MOSCOW. Nov 16 (Interfax-AVN) - The Russian Navy is getting ready for a mine-sweeping operation along the route of the North European Gas Pipeline (NEGP), Navy Commander-in-Chief Admiral Vladimir Masorin told Interfax.
"Of course, our work will proceed in full swing when the gas pipeline's precise route is determined. It will become clear then where mine-sweeping operations should be conducted and where sunken ships should simply be removed. Naval trawlers - I mean ships belonging to the Baltic Fleet - have already found four sunken torpedo boats with ammunition and several WWII-era ships," he said.
"The search operation was carried out exclusively in Russia's territorial waters," Masorin said.
"It is noteworthy that we found sunken ships in areas that were not marked on our maps as potential shipwreck areas," the commander said.
The passage through the Gulf of Finland is the most complex section of the pipeline route from the point of view of deep-water efforts, he said.