SEVEROMORSK (Sputnik) – Russia is continuing its second day of large-scale naval exercises with three warship groupings entering the Barents Sea and involving aircraft to search for “enemy submarines,” a source from the Russian Defense Ministry said Tuesday.
On Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the country’s Northern Fleet to full combat readiness for snap drills. The exercise includes nearly 40,000 military personnel and dozens naval vessels and aircraft.
The crews, assisted by anti-submarine aircraft, are working on naval self-defense, including the use of RBU-6000 rocket launchers, according to the source.
The search for “enemy” submarines will ensure the safety of Russian Northern Fleet nuclear submarines.
In addition, naval mine-sweeping forces and search and rescue crews continue working in the area.
The drill came as Norway’s largest military exercise in decades entered its second week in the northern Finnmark region, located few miles away from the Russian Northern Fleet’s headquarter in the city Severomorsk.
