The press service of the Pacific Fleet reported that Russia conducted gunnery practice at the Milan 2026 exercise in the Bay of Bengal on its frigate, the Marshal Shaposhnikov.
The statement continues by saying that “the Pacific Fleet frigate The Marshal Shaposhnikov, along with ships of the countries that were involved in the Milan 2026 international naval exercise, held a number of live-firing exercises in the Bay of Bengal during their joint defensive operations.”
🇷🇺🇮🇳 On February 16, the frigate ‘Marshal Shaposhnikov’ of the #Russia’n Navy’s Pacific Fleet arrived at the Indian port of #Visakhapatnam to participate in the multinational naval exercise ‘MILAN-2026’.
👉🏻 https://t.co/H8V4cNNFXs#RussiaIndia#DruzhbaDosti pic.twitter.com/Na92Sn4EPE
— Russia in India 🇷🇺 (@RusEmbIndia) February 18, 2026
The press service also mentioned that the naval battle involved a towed target shield, which served as a simulation of an enemy, air attack weapons were simulated by aircraft and light targets.
It reported that the navy men discharged a 100mm A-190 artillery mount, and 30mm AK-630 guns. The ships also participated in combat training exercises in phases, traversing mine-infested zones and, at the same time, destroying dummy floating mines using naval artillery.
Anti-submarine warfare missions and carrier-based operations were also being practised by Russian sailors.
Russian delegation head and Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Navy, Admiral Alexander Moiseyev, recently informed the Russian media that all the events of Milan 2026 are being conducted in the ethos of cooperation, peace and security. “The key point is the security in the Indo-Pacific region,” he said. A Russian Navy frigate, which was to visit Visakhapatnam earlier this week to take part in the International Fleet Review, is known as The Marshal Shaposhnikov. A march-past that signified the commencement of the exercise was also attended by the Russian navy men. The sea part of the manoeuvres will take place on the 21-25 of February. The organisers declared that they will concentrate on sophisticated sea operations, such as anti-submarine warfare, air defence, search and rescue operations, and combined security operations.
It was a Project 1155 large anti-submarine ship with the Marshal Shaposhnikov being launched in January 1985 at the Yantar Shipyard in Kaliningrad. It was repaired and modernised in 2016 in the Dalzavod Ship Repair Centre, Vladivostok. Following the modernisation process, the ship was redesignated to work as a frigate with high-tech Kalibr-NK and Uran strike missile systems. On April 27, 2021, the frigate came back to the Pacific Fleet following experiments.
