Phnom Penh, April 03, 2026 – Three Russian Pacific Fleet vessels are scheduled to dock at Cambodia’s Sihanoukville Autonomous Port from April 5 to 8 for a four-day visit, the country’s state news agency reported on Thursday. It is the second consecutive year that Russian warships have used Cambodia’s commercial deep-sea port rather than its recently renovated Ream Naval Base.
The corvettes Sovershennyy and Rezkiy, accompanied by the tanker Pechenga, have been on a long-distance Asia-Pacific deployment since departing Vladivostok on February 12, with port calls in Malaysia, Myanmar, India, and Bangladesh, according to Russia’s TASS news agency.
The visit makes Russia the fifth foreign navy to call at Cambodian maritime facilities in the twelve months since Ream Naval Base reopened in April 2025 after a Chinese-funded renovation that generated sustained American concern over possible exclusive military access. Japan, Vietnam, and the United States have all docked at Ream. Cambodia’s deputy naval base commander told the Associated Press in January that the facility was “open from this moment forward for all to enter.”
But the documented record of foreign naval visits shows a consistent distinction. Japan’s Maritime Self-Defense Force, a Vietnamese patrol vessel, and the USS Cincinnati all docked at Ream’s new deep-water pier. Russia’s Pacific Fleet detachment docked at Sihanoukville Autonomous Port in April 2025, according to AKP, TASS, and the Russian Embassy in Cambodia, and is scheduled to do so again in 2026. One Cambodian outlet, Kiripost, reported the 2025 Russian vessels visited Ream, contradicting the three other sources. No official explanation for the routing difference has appeared in publicly accessible records.
The distinction is relevant because the “open to all” framing is Cambodia’s principal counter to the assessment in the Pentagon’s December 2025 report on Chinese military power that China’s navy had “continuously stationed two naval combatants” at Ream on a rotating basis before the facility’s official opening. Each foreign port call at Ream generates documentary evidence against that characterization. A port call at the commercial harbor carries different evidentiary weight.
The two corvettes are Project 20380 vessels that TASS reported are equipped with Kalibr, Onyx, and Zircon cruise missiles. Myanmar state media identified Captain First Rank Andrei Gaevoi as the detachment commander during its March call in Yangon and reported 350 personnel aboard. Cambodian local reporting gave the same commander’s name for the April visit but cited 262 crew, a discrepancy that has not been resolved in the accessed record.
Cambodia’s AKP reported that the Russian delegation will pay courtesy calls on the commander of Ream Naval Base, the governor of Preah Sihanouk Province, and leaders at the Ministry of National Defence. The protocol ties the visit to the military establishment even as the ships dock at the commercial port.
The visit marks the 70th anniversary of Cambodia-Russia diplomatic relations, established on May 13, 1956. Russian Ambassador Anatoly Borovik announced commemorative plans for 2026 in December, according to the Khmer Times.
Cambodia’s record at the United Nations adds a layer. It voted in favor of General Assembly resolution ES-11/1 condemning Russian aggression against Ukraine on March 2, 2022. The continued naval engagement does not track neatly with that vote, a pattern of compartmentalized diplomacy familiar across ASEAN member states that maintain distinct political and defense relationships with competing powers.
Cambodia’s defense minister, Tea Seiha, said in March 2026 that ASEAN should “maintain its position of neutrality and not align itself with any coalition, treaty, pact, in order to go against any country,” according to the Asia News Network. Cambodia’s prime minister, Hun Manet, publicly stated in April 2025 that Ream would welcome Russia, India, and the United States after Japan’s inaugural visit.
A Cambodia-China Joint Logistics and Training Centre was inaugurated at Ream on April 5, 2025, according to China’s defense ministry and Xinhua. The facility’s presence is the physical fact that anchors international concern about Chinese access, regardless of Cambodia’s stated openness policy. India, named by Hun Manet as a future Ream visitor, has not been documented at the facility in publicly accessible records.
What the record does not yet establish is whether the Russian vessels’ consistent routing to Sihanoukville Autonomous Port reflects a technical constraint, a political choice, or standing naval protocol. Cambodia’s capacity to demonstrate open access at the facility where the exclusive-access allegation is centered depends on which navies actually dock there.
The Russian detachment is expected to depart Sihanoukville on April 8. Hun Manet is scheduled to arrive in France on April 6 for bilateral meetings and a G7 health summit in Lyon, according to Cambodia’s foreign affairs ministry.