MOSCOW, January 26. /TASS/. Anti-submarine warfare ships of the Novorossiysk naval base practiced air defense and a sea battle against enemy forces during drills in the Black Sea, the press office of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet reported on Wednesday.
"The crews of the small anti-submarine warfare ships Yeisk and Suzdalets of the Black Sea Fleet’s Novorossiysk naval base held drills to practice air defense and a naval battle by a standalone ship," the press office said in a statement.
The crews deployed to the designated areas, following which they accomplished the task of searching for, tracking and eliminating a mock enemy’s air attack weapons. The warships delivered fire against naval and aerial targets from artillery guns and surface-to-air missile systems, the press office specified.
"The training exercise was aimed at practicing the crews’ operations in the event of simultaneous threats both from the air and from the sea," the statement says.
The Black Sea Fleet’s press office reported earlier on Wednesday that over 20 combat ships and vessels of the Fleet departed from their naval bases in Sevastopol and Novorossiysk for drills in the Black Sea waters.
Russian Navy’s massive drills
In compliance with the 2022 plan of the Russian Armed Forces’ training, a series of naval drills will be held in January-February this year in all the areas of responsibility of the Navy’s fleets under the general command of Russian Navy Commander-in-Chief Admiral Nikolay Yevmenov.
The naval maneuvers will focus on measures by the Navy and the Aerospace Force to protect Russia’s national interests in the World Ocean and counter military threats to Russia from the direction of seas and oceans.
The drills will cover the seas adjacent to Russian territory and also operationally important areas of the World Ocean. Separate drills will run in the Mediterranean, North and Okhotsk Seas, in the northeastern Atlantic and the Pacific Ocean.
Overall, the sweeping drills will bring together over 140 warships and support vessels, more than 60 aircraft, 1,000 items of military hardware and about 10,000 troops.