ST.PETERSBURG. July 27 (Interfax-AVN) - Naval units of the Northwestern district of the Interior Ministry Force detained over 60 violators in controlled water areas of vital state facilities in the first half of 2004.
"Over 60 violators, including two divers, and seven vessels were detained in the controlled water areas of vital state facilities in the first six months of the year," Captain Andrei Andreyev, chief of the district's naval service, said in an interview with the Zashchitnik Rodiny newspaper published on Tuesday.
Divers of the district spent over 400 hours underwater within six months, he said.
"They examined 90 facilities, over 500,000 square meters of bottom and approaches to hydro-technical installations of protected facilities. Guard boats covered over 8,000 kilometers," Andreyev said.
In particular, a lot was done to protect hydro-technical installations of the Kola nuclear power plant from saboteurs, he noted. "As many as 269 anti-saboteur events took place in the nuclear power plant zone. Patrol boats covered over 400 kilometers. Three vessels and six violators were detained," he said.
The flag of the Interior Ministry Force's naval units has recently been raised at the Yaroslavets large guard boat of Project 376, which joined the naval detachment's guard boats group. The boat can also be used as a control and communication ship, Andreyev noted.
"In August and September, we are planning to receive two more guard boats from the naval detachment of the Eastern district, which will bring the boat group's equipping level up to 100 percent," Andreyev concluded.