The Russian circumnavigation crew known as the 5 Oceans Club made a brief stopover in Sri Lanka on Friday as part of their second global sailing expedition, hosting a public event at the Russian House in Colombo.
The six-member team is led by captain Dmitry Kuznetsov and includes crew members Vladimir Dudkin, Dmitry Dudkin, Ksenia Kuznetsova, Natalia Shahinyan — founder of the Russian charity foundation “Life on the Move” — and Sofia Sheremet, a ward of the foundation. The visit on April 24 brought the crew ashore for a public-facing programme on their voyage and the inclusive sailing initiative the club runs alongside its expeditions.
The club is best known for taking children with limb disabilities to sea, framing sailing as a means of confidence-building and direct contact with nature. Its base ashore is a specialist sailing school in Siberia, where children with physical challenges are trained and introduced to maritime life.
At the Russian House session the crew gave attendees a glimpse into shipboard life on the second circumnavigation, and discussed the way they integrate basic science observations into the voyage to make it both an adventure and an educational programme.
The Sri Lanka stop adds a soft-power, people-to-people thread to the wider Russia–Sri Lanka calendar that has otherwise been dominated this year by the Sri Lanka–Russia transport MoU signed in St. Petersburg and the continuing Russian crude oil supply talks. The Russian House in Colombo is the country’s longest-running cultural mission in Sri Lanka.
The 5 Oceans Club did not announce its next port of call.
