What Actually Connects ‘Minsk’ Large Landing Ship, Shot Down In Sevastopol, With Belarus?

Until 2000, the ship had a different name.

On the night of September 13 in Sevastopol, two ships were damaged as a result of a Ukrainian Armed Forces missile attack. One of them is the Minsk large landing ship.

Many experts doubt that the ship could be restored.

The UDF website talks about interesting facts about the Minsk large landing ship and its possible connections with Belarus.

It was built in 1983 and had a different name until 2000

The ship, known as the Minsk, was built in Gdansk in socialist Poland and commissioned in 1983. Its main purpose is to land an amphibious assault on the coast, as well as transport cargo, including armored vehicles and tanks.

The ship served in the USSR Navy, for example, in 1985 it delivered Soviet weapons to Angola.

During its first period of life, this large landing ship bore the banal name BDK-43.

It was renamed only in 2000.

Versions of why the ship was named “Minsk”

In Soviet times, naming ships after major cities of the USSR was a tradition. But why was the BDK-43 renamed already in 2000?

Short version of the Belarusian state media: the ship was named “Minsk” to honor the special relationship between Russia and Belarus. Today, the large landing ship is the only one in the Russian Navy that bears the name of the capital of another country.

In 2001, the Regional National-Cultural Autonomy “Kaliningrad Fellowship of Belarusians” was created, which established patronage over the ship “Minsk”. Moreover, patronage was also established over the crew through the State Border Committee of Belarus and military units of the Minsk garrison (they congratulated the sailors on the New Year and brought gifts).

Version of the channel “Economy of Belarus”: at the end of the 90s, the Russian fleet was in a sad situation; there were no funds for maintenance repairs of ships. In such a situation, the Russian authorities turned to those who still had money: oligarchs and others. Aliaksandr Lukashenka, nurturing hopes of taking the Moscow throne, gave the command to finance the repair of one of the large landing ships from the budget of Belarus. After repairs, the ship was named “Minsk”.

The Minsk was transferred from the Baltic sea to the Crimea just before Russia's attack on Ukraine

The Minsk belongs to the Baltic Fleet of the Russian Federation and in Russia they were very proud of it. For example, the media separately reported that the ship arrived at one or another major port abroad. The ship took part in naval parades in St. Petersburg on Navy Day many times.

In February 2022, the Minsk unexpectedly arrived in the Black Sea, ostensibly for exercises. Then Russia increased the number of landing ships in the Crimea, preparing, according to experts, for an amphibious operation to capture Odesa.

But it never happened: Ukraine demonstrated the ability to destroy ships approaching the sea with anti-ship missile systems. Landing ships began to be used primarily by Russia as transport vessels.