Russia to flex muscles with navy drills involving all its fleets to showcase its military might
Jan 21, 2022
Moscow [Russia], January 21 : Russia has announced its navy will conduct exercises from the Pacific to the Atlantic involving all its fleets in an effort to show its strength in proportion.
The drills this month and next will take place in the seas directly adjacent to Russia and also feature manoeuvres in the Mediterranean, the North Sea, the Sea of Okhotsk, the northeast Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific, the defence ministry said in a statement on Thursday, according to Al Jazeera.
The drills will include drawing on 140 warships and support vessels, 60 planes, 1,000 units of military hardware and about 10,000 servicemen, according to the statement of the Russian Defence Ministry.
Meanwhile, on Friday, Russia, Iran and China began a trilateral naval exercise in an area encompassing 17,000 square km (6,560 square miles) north of the Indian Ocean.
Iran, which first joined naval drills with China and Russia in 2019, sent vessels from its armed forces and Revolutionary Guards to the exercises dubbed the "2022 Marine Security Belt".
The drills will include a range of tactical exercises, namely putting out fires on burning vessels, rescuing hijacked vessels, and shooting at air targets in different visibility conditions, according to Iran's Rear Admiral Mostafa Tajoldini.
Russian military forces and hardware began arriving in Belarus this week for the "Allied Resolve" drills to be held near the former Soviet republic's western border with North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) members Poland and Lithuania, and close to its southern flank with Ukraine.
Moscow has said that 12 Sukhoi Su-35 fighter jets and a Pantsir missile system would also be deployed to Belarus for the drills.
Russian military moves are being closely scrutinised as a troop build-up near Ukraine and a volley of hawkish rhetoric have rattled the West and sparked fears of a looming war, as reported by Al Jazeera.
Moscow insists it has no plans to invade but has at the same time laid down a series of demands - including a ban on Ukraine and Georgia joining North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in exchange for de-escalation.
The United States has rejected Moscow's demands as "non-starters" and NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg this week insisted that the alliance "will not compromise on core principles such as the right for each nation to choose its own path", according to Al Jazeera.
