Russia holds annual naval parade (VIDEO/PHOTOS)

More than 200 warships, including from several foreign countries, took part in the festivities in St. Petersburg

Russia has celebrated Navy Day by holding a traditional maritime parade in St. Petersburg, which involved thousands of service members and more than 200 vessels.

The parade, which takes place every year on the last Sunday of July, was overseen by President Vladimir Putin, Defense Minister Andrey Belousov, and Commander-in-Chief of the Navy Aleksandr Moiseyev.

The celebrations were joined by sailors from Russia’s Northern, Pacific, Baltic fleets, Caspian flotilla, as well as members of the naval force deployed in Syria. Ships from the Black Sea Fleet were absent from the parade due to still being engaged in active operations in the Ukraine conflict.

A total of 15,000 service members, as well as more than 200 ships of various classes and over one hundred units of other military equipment, took part in the parade. Also taking part were Chinese, Indian and Algerian warships.

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The parade is traditionally led by the Poltava, a reconstructed 18th century 54-gun sailing ship. The original ship, launched in 1712, was given its name in commemoration of Russia’s crushing victory over Sweden at the Battle of Poltava in 1709, which turned the tide of the Great Northern War and paved the way for Russia to become a major world power.

Other more modern warships included several small-sized missile ships and corvettes, which are typically armed with Kalibr cruise missiles capable of hitting targets at a range of more than 1,000km. The parade featured a patrol icebreaker, the ‘Ivan Papanin’, a type of vessel specifically designed for Arctic conditions. Russia currently possesses the largest icebreaker fleet in the world, numbering more than 40 vessels.

The submarine force was represented by the diesel-electric submarine ‘Mozhaisk’, which can be armed with torpedoes or Kalibr missiles.

Meanwhile, the foreign vessels present included the Chinese destroyer ‘Jiaozuo’ and replenishment ship ‘Honghu’, the Algerian training ship ‘La Soummam’, and the Indian stealth frigate ‘Tabar’, which was produced in Russia.

The display of naval power on the water was followed by a parade on land, which included cadets from several Russian naval institutions, as well as a detachment of marines.

In his speech commemorating the occasion, Putin vowed that Russia would continue to strengthen its naval forces and modernize its fleets with high-tech assets, including hypersonic missiles.