ROSTOV-ON-DON, May 24. /TASS/. A joint group of warships from Russia and Kazakhstan successfully coped with the assigned missions during naval drills that ran at practice ranges in the Caspian Sea on May 18-24, the press office of Russia’s Southern Military District reported on Monday.

"The naval groups of the Caspian Flotilla jointly with the Navy of Kazakhstan held drills to practice operations in a single deployment order. The warships’ crews also practiced a set of measures to repel strikes by a notional enemy’s air attack weapons and conducted joint artillery firings against sea and air targets in a simulated naval battle. Frogmen units of both states were involved to carry out mine countermeasures and anti-saboteur operations," the press office said in a statement.

The warships that took part in the drills practiced defending maritime economic facilities and fighting terrorism in the Caspian Sea. After the results of the drills were summed up, the warships headed for their home naval bases, the statement says.

The naval group comprised five combat ships and support vessels of the Kazakh Navy, including the missile and artillery ships Oral and Mangystau. The Russian Navy was represented in the maneuvers by the small missile ship Grad Sviyazhsk, the minesweepers Magomed Gadzhiyev and RT-234, the rescue tug SB-738, the small hydrographic survey vessel Anatoly Guzhvin and the sea tug MB-58.