MOSCOW. Jan 25 (Interfax) - The Pytlivy frigate has held an exercise involving artillery fire amid the U.S. destroyer USS Donald Cook's visit to the Black Sea, the Russian Black Sea Fleet said in a statement on Monday.
"Consistent with the exercise scenario, the crew of the ship's combat information post detected and identified a mock marine target as a ship of a mock enemy en route to the coast of the Krasnodar Territory. The Pytlivy arrived in the designated area of the Black Sea waters and accomplished a series of mine countermeasures and air defense training assignments," the fleet press service said.
"Having taken a position at the marine range, crews of missile and artillery systems practiced the sequence of actions towards the destruction of a mock enemy's ship by firing artillery weapons at a marine target. A towing target represented the mock enemy," the press service said.
Russia's National Defense Control Center said on January 23 that the Russian Black Sea Fleet had started monitoring the U.S. destroyer USS Donald Cook, which arrived in the Black Sea on Saturday.
"Black Sea forces and hardware have started monitoring the activity of the U.S. Navy's USS Donald Cook Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer, which entered the Black Sea waters on January 23, 2021," the press center said.
The Montreux Convention limits the presence of ships from non-Black Sea countries in the Black Sea waters to 21 days.