MOSCOW, May 22. /ITAR-TASS/. Russia’s Pacific Fleet warships have gone to the East Chinese Sea to participate in the active stage of Naval Interaction 2014 exercises, the Pacific Fleet spokesman has said.

“The Pacific Fleet squadron, made of the guided-missile cruiser Varyag, fleet destroyer Bystry, anti-submarine ship Admiral Panteleyev, amphibious ship Admiral Nevelskoy, service vessels of the Ilim and Kalar, has left the naval port in Wusong (Shanghai, People's Republic of China) to take part in the exercises’ active stage,” the spokesman, Captain I Rank Roman Martov said on Thursday.

“They will train at sea ship defense on anchorage, joint convoying of ships, release of a seized ship, joint activity on detecting and identifying targets and joint air defense activity, strikes on sea targets, anti-submarine warfare, search-and-rescue operations, as well as the practical use of weapons at sea,” he said.

The Naval Interaction 2014 exercises are led by Russia’s Navy Deputy Commander-in-Chief, Rear Admiral Alexander Fedotenkov and China’s Navy deputy commander Tian Zhong.

Totally, six Russian naval surface ships and support ships, two helicopters and a detachment of marine commandos, and six Chinese ships take part in the manoeuvres.

Russia’s squadron led by Captain I Rank Sergei Lipilin left Vladivostok on May 14. They arrived in China on May 18 to take part in the exercise.

On May 20, Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping officially opened the Russia-China exercises.

These are the Russia-China third joint exercise this year. They are aimed at strengthening cooperation between the fleets and the ability to withstand various threats in open water.

The first naval exercise was held in the Yellow Sea near the city of Qingdao in the east of Chinese province of Shandong on April 22-27, 2012. A total of 25 warships and submarines, 13 warplanes, nine helicopters and two commando units participated in those war games.

Then Russia and China held naval exercises off Russia’s Far East coast in the Sea of Japan last July. Exercises assembling some 20 warships from Russia’s Pacific Fleet and China’s North and South Sea Fleets were described by China as the largest the country had undertaken with a foreign force.