BALTIYSK. Oct 8 (Interfax-AVN) - A Swedish Navy rescue vessel will call at the Russian naval base of Baltiysk in July 2003, the fleet's commander Admiral Vladimir Valuyev said on Tuesday.
An agreement on the matter was reached last week when a group of Swedish Navy officers led by the Navy's inspector general Brigadier General Bengt Andrersson visited the Russian Baltic Fleet.
"During the visit of the rescue vessel to the Baltic Fleet, a joint exercise in saving a submarine in distress will be held on maps and preparations for the naval stage of the exercise will take place," Valuyev told Interfax-Military News Agency.
The exercise in rescuing a submarine will happen in late summer 2003 during or right after the Baltic Fleet's training voyage. The parties agreed that during the exercise the Swedish rescue vessel will provide aid to a Russian submarine in distress. A Russian rescue vessel will perform the same operation on the Swedish submarine simultaneously.
Valuyev stressed that "in spite of apparent simplicity, the exercise requires qualified preparations." He noted that the Baltic Fleet carried out a similar exercise two years ago right after the Kursk submarine's sinking and "it has the full set of equipment needed to provide aid to nuclear submarines in distress."
During that exercise, submariners were taken to the surface from a depth of 54m. The work was observed by reconnaissance ships of Baltic nations. This time the exercise will be held jointly.
According to Valuyev, a series of preparations must take place before the exercise. It is necessary to receive and replace batteries at two submarines and a deep-sea diving apparatus that helps rescue people from low depths.
Four officers of the Baltic Fleet are supposed to visit Sweden in the near future in order to study the Navy's equipment intended for rescuing people from submarines in distress.