Smartly dressed Russian sailors from the corvette Soobrazitelny spent some time exploring Falmouth when their ship berthed on County Wharf for a day’s visit.

The Russian Federation Naval attaché, Captain Oleg Kornienko, and his assistant Commander, Igor Elkin, were in Falmouth to welcome the ship, along with Commander Tom Herman and Lieutenant Commander Mike Lynch representing the Royal Navy.

Deputy Naval Regional Commander for Wales and the West of England, Commander Tom Herman, said: “We welcome this visit to our port. It shows how old enmities are now far in the past and highlights the steady improvement in our engagement programme. I’m sure we can look forward to seeing more visits from Russian warships to British ports.”

The 343-foot ship was returning home to her base at Baltisky, after taking part in an international naval festival in Cork, Ireland, alongside the Royal Navy’s frigate HMS Northumberland and ships of the French and Belgian Navies, all as guests of the Irish Navy. The Soobrazitelny, which was built in St Petersburg, is part of the Russian Federation’s Baltic Fleet. The 27-knot plus corvette went into service last year.

This class of ship is used for littoral zone (close to shore) operations, engagement of enemy submarines and surface ships, and gun support of landing operations.