Russia, Turkey Conduct Joint Naval Drills in Black Sea – Defence Ministry

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The Russian Black Sea Fleet’s naval ships together with the vessels of the Turkish Naval Forces have conducted a passing exercise to improve interoperability in possible mine danger areas, Black Sea Fleet spokesman Capt. 2nd Rank Alexei Rulyov said on Friday.

"The crews of two vessels of the Novorossiysk naval base of the Black Sea Fleet — patrol ship Vasily Bykov and minesweeper Valentin Pikul — have held joint Turkish-Russian exercise PASSEX with the crews of corvette Burgazada and minesweeper Akcay," Rulyov said.

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According to Rulyov, the crews worked on interoperability between the two naval forces in the Black Sea and conducted a passing exercise in possible mine danger areas.

On March 6-8, Turkish warships were in the port of Novorossiysk with a business call as part of national naval exercises dubbed Mavi Vatan-2019.