PRESS RELEASE

Dear Sirs!

Since 4th till 5th of April 2002 the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Navy, the Admiral of the Fleet V.E.Kuroedov was in Taganrog on a working visit.

On 4th of April 2002, BERIEV Aircraft Company hosted a working conference with the Commander-in-Chief of Navy as the chairman. It was devoted to the questions of using science-technological potential of BERIEV Aircraft Company in order to create promising aircraft for the Russian Navy. A report about main activities of BERIEV Aircraft Company was delivered by General Designer G.S. Panatov.

According to results of the conference between the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Navy and managers of BERIEV Aircraft Company, the parties agreed upon the main trends of the development of the navel aviation of the Navy for the next 20-30 years.

At the airdrome "Taganrog-Yuzhniy" the Commander-in-Chief saw the aircraft developed and manufactured in Taganrog. The Be-200, Be-12P-200 and Be-103 amphibious aircraft of BERIEV Aircraft Company took part in the demonstration flights, including the flights from water.

The Commander-in-Chief has been familiarized with the current status and future trends of the development of the enterprises and research and development organizations of the military companies of Taganrog and of the region, which manufacture products and perform research and development works for the Russian Navy. For this purpose he met with managers of the joint-stock companies Taganrog "Aviation", "Krasniy Gidropres" Company, "Priboy" Company, Taganrog Research and Communication Institute of communication, joint-stock company "Gorizont" as well as with the head of the administration, governor of Rostov region V.F. Chub and the head of administration of Taganrog S.I. Shilo.

During his working trip the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Navy was accompanied by a large team of admirals and officers, including, Chairman of Sea scientific committee rear admiral L.G. Sidorenko, the Commander of marine aircraft of the Russian Navy lieutenant-general I.D.Fedin and the General director of the Russian Agency on shipbuilding V.Y. Pospelov.

On 5th of April the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Navy and persons accompanying him visited historical places of the city connected with the history of the Russian fleet (a monument "the mine-sweeper of the Azov military flotilla", Nikolskaya church) and laid flowers to the monument of the founder of the Russian military fleet Peter the Great.

The Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Navy V.I. Kuroedov has highly estimated the contribution of Taganrog in the history of the Russian state and regular navy fleet as the first naval base; therefore a decision was made to grant the name "Taganrog" to one of the modern combat ships serving with the Navy of Russia.

As the Commander-in-Chief has noted, Taganrog is connected to the fleet not only with its famous past, but also with its not-less-famous present. For almost 70 years Taganrog has been building planes for marine aircraft. Therefore V.I. Kuroedov has supported the idea about creation in Taganrog of a monument to founders of seaplanes and sea pilots. For this purpose one of the Be-12 amphibians will be withdrawn from the service.