Russia's Northern Fleet conducts drills in the Barents Sea Aimed at preventing passage of offending ships

The Arctic expeditionary ship group of the Northern Fleet has held an exercise in the Barents Sea south of the Franz Josef Land archipelago to suppress unauthorised passage of foreign vessels through Russian waters, Interfax reported.

"During the drills, the crew of the large anti-submarine ship (LAS) 'Vice Admiral Kulakov' worked out an episode to suppress the actions of a suspected intruder vessel, the role of which was performed by the rescue tugboat 'Altay', which is part of the Arctic expeditionary ship grouping of the Northern Fleet", the press service of the Northern Fleet said.

It is noted that a situation was simulated in which a foreign vessel heading to the Russian border does not respond to requests, and does not respond to the demands of the military.

As part of the exercise, the Northern Fleet sailors also worked out the actions of inspection teams, which were delivered from "Vice-Admiral Kulakov" to the conditional "offending vessel".

The 12th cruise of the Arctic expeditionary ship group of the Northern Fleet on the seas of the Arctic Ocean began on  August 10. It is planned that the Northern Fleet sailors will take part in several exercises to defend Russia's island and continental territories in the Arctic, as well as to ensure the safety of maritime navigation and other maritime economic activities of the Russian Federation in the Arctic zone.