KALININGRAD, February 2. /TASS/. Ships of Russia’s Baltic Fleet, one of the major regional divisions of the Navy, will make several long-distance voyages this year, including a voyage to Antarctica, the official spokesman for the Fleet, Roman Martov told TASS.

"The ships of the fleet are to make long-distance voyages to the North Sea, to the Mediterranean, to Antarctica, and to other areas of the world ocean this year," he said without specifying the ships that would take part in them, as the voyages were still in the phase of planning.

Martov recalled that the oceanic survey vessel of the Baltic Fleet, the Admiral Vladimirsky, did an Antarctic voyage from November 2015 through to April 2016, for the first time in thirty years.

He pointed out a constant expansion of the geography of voyages, saying that ships of the Baltic Fleet performed assignments in the Caribbean, North, Black, and Mediterranean Seas, as well as in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans in 2016.

They made unofficial visits and business calls into more than twenty foreign ports in Spain, Greece, Malta, Cyprus, Djibouti, Oman, Cuba, Trinidad and Tobago, and other nations.

"All the units of the Baltic Fleet are in the state of permanent combat readiness today and are capable of performing assignments within the shortest possible time," Martov said.

Czar Peter I, whom the Russians duly regard as the founder of the national Navy, signed a decree on February 2, 170,1 on building six 18-gun vessels on Lake Ladoga, thus giving inception to the Baltic Fleet.

Today’s Baltic Fleet comprises a highly ramified structure. It has the surface fleet, the submarine service, aviation, an air defense force, coastal defense troops, and logistics assistance units.