MOSCOW. June 3 (Interfax-AVN) - Russian Navy Commander-in- Chief Vladimir Kuroyedov has announced that the Russian-Indian Indra 2003 naval exercise will end on Thursday.
"An active stage of the exercise took place on June 1 and 2, and Russian and Indian ships will complete the maneuvers before June 5 by accomplishing the rest of the missions," Kuroyedov told Interfax-Military News Agency.
"It is too yearly to make a final assessment of the exercise. We will sum it up when the ships return to base, which will happen in early July," he said.
Kuroyedov refuted media reports that the Russian ship detachment on a mission in the Indian Ocean will leave for the Far East as soon as the joint exercise is completed to take part in another large-scale exercise. The detachment includes Black Sea Fleet ships. The large-scale exercise is scheduled for August.
"I am not aware of such plans," Kuroyedov said.
During the second stage of the Indra 2003 exercise, the Russian and Indian ships perform joint maneuvers within orders and practice transfer of cargoes on the move. Russian KA-27 Helix helicopters land on Indian ships, and India's KA-28 Helix and SA- 316B Aluette III helicopters land on Russian ships. Search for and destruction of a submarine and encounter attack are the main goals of the exercise's second stage.
The Indian Eastern Fleet is represented by three frigates and two submarines.
Russia is represented by ships of the Black Sea and Pacific Fleets. The former fleet sent its flagship Moskva, Pytlivy and Smetlivy guard ships and Tsezar Kunikov large landing craft to the Indian Ocean, and the latter fleet its Marshal Shaposhnikov and Admiral Panteleyev large anti-submarine ships.
The first stage of the joint exercise took place in the Arabian Sea on May 22 and 23. In addition to Russian vessels, it involves warships of India's Western Navy. The parties practiced maneuvers, firing, and air defense.
Kuroyedov earlier said that the participants in the exercise "will carry out joint missile and artillery firing" and "will train rescue operations in the sea and anti-submarine operations."