KALININGRAD, June 18. /TASS/. The Baltic Fleet ships that monitored NATO’s Baltops 2020 drills in the Baltic Sea returned to their home bases in the Kaliningrad Region, the Fleet’s press office reported on Thursday.
"The Baltic Fleet’s ships completed accomplishing assignments at the Fleet’s naval ranges and returned to the main naval base, the city of Baltiysk, and switched to routine combat training measures and everyday activity," the press office said in a statement.
The Baltic Fleet held its drills amid NATO’s ongoing Baltops 2020 exercise that involved 17 member states and 2 partner countries, about 30 warships, up to 30 aircraft and helicopters and also around 3,000 personnel.
During the drills, the crews of the Baltic Fleet ships practiced a set of combat training missions and checked the forces’ readiness for anti-submarine warfare and air defense. During the combat training at sea, the Fleet’s minesweepers and small anti-submarine warfare ships practiced assignments for defending the water area.
Also, the Fleet’s strike groups practiced delivering missile strikes jointly with its naval aviation against a notional enemy’s ships. The small missile ships armed with Kalibr cruise missiles conducted electronic launches against simulated facilities deep in the mainland.
The ships’ crews held a series of exercises for anti-saboteur defense during the anchorage in an unsafe roadstead. The drills during this period involved about 20 aircraft and helicopters of the Baltic Fleet’s naval aviation.