MOSCOW. Sept 11 (Interfax) - Two groups of Pacific Fleet minesweepers have ensured safe deployment of combined-arms units, strike groups, and hunter-killer forces in the Sea of Japan and the Sea of Okhotsk as part of the Ocean 2024 strategic command post exercise, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement.
"According to the exercise scenario, the mock enemy planted mines on the presumed route of Russian ships' deployment. A mine warfare group comprising the Anatoly Shlemov, Pyotr Ilyichev and Yakov Balyayev ocean minesweepers and the BT-100 and BT-325 base minesweepers, operating in one area, and another mine warfare group of the BT-215, the BT-245 and the BT-256, operating in a different area, practiced detecting and sweeping mines by contact and non-contact sweeps with support of the Pacific Fleet's marine aviation," the statement said.
"Mock mines found on the surface were destroyed by precision artillery fire. Coordinated efforts of the minesweepers provided a safe passage through minefields for combined-arms groups and enabled them to begin the fulfillment of missions in the Sea of Japan and the Sea of Okhotsk," it said.
The Ocean 2024 strategic command post exercise is taking place on September 10-16, it said.