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Russian Northern Fleet starting snap military drills in Barents Sea

MOSCOW, February 28 /ITAR-TASS/. Russia’s North Fleet, one of the five major territorial branches of the Russian Navy, has started an active stage of military exercising in the area of the Barents Sea within the framework of ad-hoc military drills of the Western and Central Military Districts, an official representative of the Russian Navy told Itar-Tass on Friday.

“Today, the North Fleet ships are conducting an episode of the exercise simulating a release a seized ship,” the source said. “The Iceberg fast attack guided missile ship, the MB-100 fleet-tug and the KIL-122 buoy tender are engaged in the episode.”

Along with this episode, a North Fleet detachment consisting of rescue ships - Georgy Titov, Mikhail Rudnitsky and Pamir - and of the SB-523 rescue tug have been conducting a rescue and search operation in a specified area of the Barents Sea in order to assist the fleet’s activity on high seas.

‘During this episode, the rescue crews will showcase their readiness to render assistance to submarines and naval surface ships supposedly in distress,” the navy representative said.

Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Navy Viktor Chirkov arrived in Severomorsk, the main base of the North Fleet located on the Kola Peninsula, to take command of the active stage of the exercise. He received reports from the command officers and the fleet’s management chiefs on the multiple-type fleet forces which are being deployed on the sea ranges, as well as on the transition of infrastructures at naval bases to higher levels of combat readiness.

“The snap checks will help spotlight attention on an algorithm of actions of the North Fleet’s combat command system and on the ability of all-level command elements to to accomplish combat tasks in the operational zone of responsibility,” Chirkov said.

The commander-in-chief has set a task to meet all the regulatory requirements for the naval forces’ activity on high seas and to ensure their efficient interaction and provide safety measures while drilling practical episodes.

Admiral Chirkov is expected to pay an inspection visit to the home stations of nuclear submarines, navy surface ships, naval aviation and coastal defence troops of the Northern Fleet.