MOSCOW. Aug 20 (Interfax) - Ships of Russia's Black Sea Fleet have conducted an exercise in destroying underwater saboteurs in the Mediterranean Sea, the fleet's spokesperson Alexei Rulyov said.
"The ships accomplishing missions as part of the Russian Navy's permanent task force in the Mediterranean Sea, conducted an exercise in underwater anti-saboteur defense in the waters off the ships' base," Rulyov said.
According to the exercise plan, patrol forces detect two fast-speed boats carrying a group of unknown individuals heading to the base of the Black Sea Fleet ships. A Grachonok-class anti-saboteur boat and the Raptor patrol boat head out to intercept the targets. After identifying them as a mock enemy, the personnel fire warning shots with large-caliber machineguns. The mock saboteurs fire back and split into two groups. One of the boats attempts to seize the SB-36 rescue tug off the base while the other unloads about ten saboteurs in diving suits into the water.
"Both boats were intercepted and destroyed by the anti-sabotage motor boats, after which the combat swimmers from the underwater demolition squad start searching for the mock saboteurs," Rulyov said.
As a preemptive measure, the ships, including the Admiral Makarov frigate and the Ivan Golubets minesweeper, throw practice grenades and turn propellers to prevent mining underwater sections of the ships. As a result, the mock saboteurs were to surface and were captured.
Their parts were played by divers from the Admiral Makarov frigate on BL-580 standard-issue fast-speed boats.
In total, the exercise involved around ten ships, motor boats and support vessels of the fleet and over 500 personnel.
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