Indian sailors organize reception for Russian crew ahead of joint naval exercise

Commandment of the Western Fleet of the Indian Navy on Wednesday organized a ceremonial reception for the commanders and crewmembers of Russian ships that on May 22-23 will take part in the first joint naval exercise in the Arabian Sea.

The battle ships of the USSR and Indian Navy last conducted joint military-operative training 15 years ago.

Before the reception, the commanders of the ships involved in the exercise held a meeting, where they discussed the details of fulfilling the set tasks, a Russian military source reported. The tasks include joint manoeuvring of ships, providing anti-aircraft defence, artillery firing at targets on land and at sea, fight against submarines of a supposed enemy and rescuing crews at sea. To detect submarines and rescue crews the fleets will use shipborne helicopters.

The detachment of combat ships under the flag of Black Sea Fleet Deputy Commander Vice Admiral Yevgeny Orlov comprises the Black Sea Fleet flagship guard guided-missile cruiser Moskva and three ships of the Pacific Fleet, two large submarine chasers Admiral Panteleyev and Marshal Shaposhnikov and tanker Vladimir Kolechitsky.

After the first stage of the exercise the Russian ships will leave for Bay of Bengal, where on June 1-2 they will participate in the second stage achieving the same tasks together with the Indian Eastern Fleet.

Ahead of the exercise, the crewmembers took part in cultural and sports events and visited the port city of Mumbai (Bombay), Maharashtra.

At present the Russian ships are at anchor in the inner harbour of Mumbai.