Representational image.
Moscow, Russia: Russia said on Thursday that its immediate fleet exercises in the Pacific were over, reiterating that its troops were prepared to fend off “aggression” in the event of a maritime battle.
In light of ongoing tensions with the West over Ukraine, Russia’s Pacific Fleet, which is based in the port city of Vladivostok, reportedly began conducting surprise combat manoeuvres last week, according to Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu.
On Monday, President Vladimir Putin said that a “surprise inspection” had occurred “at a very high level”.
The drills were over and the troops were going back to their posts, the defence ministry announced on Thursday.
“Snap drills confirmed the high readiness of the troops (forces) of the Pacific Fleet to solve the problems of repelling the aggression of a potential enemy from the direction of ocean and sea,” the ministry said in a statement.
During the exercises in the Sea of Japan, the Sea of Okhotsk and the Bering Sea, forces practised searching and destroying submarines, “repelling large-scale rocket and aviation attacks” and launching rockets, torpedoes and artillery fire against seaborne and ground targets.
Strategic missile carriers and long-range bombers flew to a “central part of the Pacific Ocean” to imitate strikes on enemy targets.
Air defence forces repelled a mock enemy air attack with the deployment of S-400 anti-aircraft missile systems, Pantsir-S missile and artillery systems and radar stations, Moscow said.
The exercises in the Pacific involved over 25,000 Russian military personnel and 167 warships and support vessels, including 12 submarines.
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