International exercises of NATO and Russian Emergencies Ministry - Bogorodsk-2002 - to take part in Russia

The international exercises of NATO and the Russian Emergencies Ministry - Bogorodsk-2002 - will be officially opened in the town of Noginsk (Moscow region) on Tuesday. The exercises themselves will start early in the morning on September 25th. Bogorodsk is the pre-revolutionary name of the town. As RIA Novosti was told in the Russian Foreign Ministry, 1,200 men will take part in the exercises. They will represent specialised units of the Russian Emergencies Ministry, the NATO countries and the countries of the Council of Euro-Atlantic Partnership.

The exercises envisage the conducting of an anti-terrorist operation, under the scenario of which terrorists attack a chemical enterprise. The attack results in a great number of victims, the contamination of the environment and the destruction of buildings.

The participants in the exercises will have to make air reconnaissance, to bring main forces into the zone of the terrorist act, retrieve the victims from the debris, quickly evacuate them and clear the place of mines.

In the context of the Bogorodsk-2002 exercises four one-day seminars will be held on the following themes: "Crossing the Border - Frontier and Customs Control," "Coordination of Actions During a Rescue Operation," "Medical Service in a Rescue Operation" and "Law Enforcement Activity in a Rescue Operation." Russian Deputy Emergencies Minister Lieutenant-General Gennady Korotkin has been appointed the head of the joint exercises. NATO will be represented by Juan Martines Esparza, NATO Assistant Secretary General, and by Evert Somer, Euro-Atlantic Disaster Response Coordination Centre (EADRCC).