Amphibious landing craft lands at crowded beach in Russia

No one was injured when an amphibious landing craft landed on a beach near Kaliningrad in western Russia, officials said. A video of the incident, posted online Tuesday by one of the beach-goers, showed the amphibious landing craft "Zubr" noisily creating huge waves as it approached a crowded beach in Mechnikovo, TV Novosti reported Wednesday. Russia's Defense Ministry said the ship was on a regular drill and that the beach was military property. "Docking at the beach is a regular practice; what we don't know is what people were doing at the beach, which is within the military firing range," a ministry official told Komsomolskaya Pravda. A military representative said the ship was barricaded to ensure the security of the beach-goers. "After the drill was over, the cordon was removed and the ship sailed back to its base," said Andrey Bespaly, a public relations representative for the Baltic Fleet Western military district.