MOSCOW. Nov 28 (Interfax-AVN) - Large-scale exercises of all law-enforcement departments in the Far East, which have been scheduled for summer 2003, are bound to upgrade their interaction, presidential envoy to the Far Eastern Federal District Konstantin Pulikovsky told a news conference at the Interfax main office.
"At present, federal departments, primarily defense and law- enforcement ones, do not interact in emergencies. Thus, the prime goal of the exercises is to organize control over actions of governmental, defense and law-enforcement departments in various sorts of emergencies," Pulikovsky said.
The exercises will include about 30 sea and land training episodes, that are aimed at rehearsing interaction and coordination of all governing bodies and law-enforcement agencies, he said.
The district and fleet have broad capabilities to hold such exercises, the envoy noted.
He elaborated on the importance of the exercises in the wake of growing terrorist threats.
"Unfortunately, civilians and not only them have problems with understanding that terrorism is the plague of the present- day world, that this is a real war and that a war like WWII is unlikely to ever happen again," Pulikovsky said. He stressed that terrorism and militant Islamic ideology do not embody the entire Moslem world.
"I think it is only positive that the exercises will take place in the Far East. All law-enforcement agencies will benefit from them," the envoy noted.
According to earlier reports, the large-scale exercises of all law-enforcement bodies operating in the Far East will take place in the Sea of Japan, Sea of Okhotsk and Bering Sea in mid- 2003. Their goal is to combat poaching, bioterrorism, drug trafficking and illegal migration, as well as to protect hydrocarbon fields. In addition, participants in the exercises will practice rescue operations at sea.