MOSCOW. Sept 18 (Interfax) - The Russian Pacific Fleet is holding the Finval 2023 tactical exercise training protection of Northern Sea Route communications in the Chukchi and Bering Seas and the Chukotka Peninsula, the Russian Defense Ministry said.
"The tactical exercise involves about 10,000 troops and over 50 pieces of military hardware, including surface ships, supply ships, submarines, planes and helicopters of marine aviation, Bal and Bastion coastal missile systems, and wheeled and tracked all-terrain armored vehicles," the ministry said.
"All episodes of the exercise are defensive and aim to upgrade the training of forces for operations on the northeastern borders of Russia," it said.
The Chukchi Sea divides Russia's Chukotka and the United States' Alaska. The sea border between Russia and the United States goes through the Bering Sea.
Russian Navy Commander Nikolai Yevmenov is supervising the Pacific Fleet exercise, the ministry said.
"The first episode of the exercise is the destruction of a group of ships in the northeastern part of the Bering Sea. The Varyag Guards Missile Cruiser, the Tomsk nuclear submarine, and a Bastion coastal missile system practiced a missile strike," it said.
"Vulkan, Granit and Oniks cruise missiles were fired by standard seaborne and coastal launch vehicles at a complex target simulating a group of ships of a mock enemy in the Bering Sea. According to surveillance systems, all missiles successfully hit the designated targets hundreds of kilometers away from the launch sites," the ministry said.
"A series of combined missile and artillery strikes continues during the exercise, air, anti-submarine and anti-airborne defense is being trained, alongside an off-road march of hardware in the Arctic," it said.