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Active phase of Russian-Egyptian joint naval drills begins in Mediterranean

The ship crews will practise measures to organize air defense, search for, rescue and tug to safety a ship in distress, transfer cargoes from a helicopter on the move and inspect a suspicious ship
The Samum missile-carrying hovercraft (archive) ITAR-TASS/Sergey Velichkin/Vladimir Rodionov
The Samum missile-carrying hovercraft (archive)
© ITAR-TASS/Sergey Velichkin/Vladimir Rodionov

MOSCOW, June 10. /TASS/. Russian-Egyptian naval exercise Friendship Bridge-2015 in the Mediterranean has entered the active phase, the Russian Black Sea Fleet’s spokesman, Captain 1st class Vyacheslav Trukhkachyov, said on Wednesday.

"On Wednesday morning Russian and Egyptian Naval ships left the port of Alexandria and set course towards the areas selected for the exercise," he said.

Over the next 24 hours the Russian and Egyptian ships will practise measures to organize air defense, search for, rescue and tug to safety a ship in distress, transfer cargoes from a helicopter on the move and inspect a suspicious ship.

Russia’s naval group participating in the exercise consists of the guided missile cruiser The Moskva, missile-carrying hovercraft The Samum, tanker ship The Ivan Bubnov and sea-going tug MB-31. Egypt delegated two frigates-The Taba and The Sharm El-Sheikh, two missile boats -The April 25 and The June 18 and the Shalatin tanker.

Russia’s amphibious Alexander Shabalin assault ship will join in soon.