MOSCOW. Jan 12 (Interfax-AVN) - Russian Navy ships will participate in the NATO-led Active Endeavor anti-terror operation in 2005, a high-ranking official from the Navy Staff told Interfax-Military News Agency on Wednesday.
"Russian ships will participate in the operation in 2005, though, not on a permanent basis," he emphasized.
According to him, Russia and NATO will coordinate and sign a tactical memorandum in the near future, specifying the objectives and interoperability of the operation. He noted that NATO and Russian officials signed an agreement in Brussels in December 2004, with the agreement establishing a legal basis for the Russian Navy's participation in the NATO-led Active Endeavor anti-terror operation in the Mediterranean.
He also emphasized that the Russian Navy would pay due attention to combating terrorism in the Black Sea. "We want to conduct anti-terror operations in the Black Sea both within the framework of the BlackSeaFor international program, and on a bilateral basis with the Turkish Navy," he said.
He noted that the Turkish Navy was upbeat about the idea. However, certain states, washed by the Black Sea, for instance, Bulgaria and Romania are not interested in the problem and support deployment of NATO ships. "That is why an agreement, regulating actions of the Russian and the Turkish navies as part of the anti-terror operation in the Black Sea, will be signed in a few months," he said.
In November-December 2004 the Pytlivy and the Smetlivy PT boats of the Black Sea Fleet participated in Active Endeavor and a joint exercise with NATO ships off Italy, as well as patrolled the eastern Mediterranean.
The NATO-led Active Endeavor anti-terror operation started after the terrorist attacks on the U.S. in September 2001. Back then the operation envisioned controlling navigation in the area of Gibraltar and the Suez Canal. The decision on expanding the area of operation to include the whole of the Mediterranean was adopted in March 2004.