Northern mariners will attend at least three international exercises in 2011 – admiral Maksimov

14.12.2010 Northern Fleet (NF) mariners will participate at least in three international exercises in 2011; they will also keep on securing civil shipping in the Gulf of Aden, said today NF Commander Vice Admiral Nikolai Maksimov in the interview to Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper.

"Northern Fleet will face a number of critical missions in the training year of 2011. Primarily, they are sea patrols and maintenance of ships and units at assigned readiness level. It is planned to conduct joint naval exercises Pomor-2011 and Barents-2011 with Norwegian Navy, and four-lateral exercise FRUKUS-2011 with French, US, and British navies", said the commander.

"NF mariners will continue to secure civil shipping, fight piracy, and counteract terror threats. Much attention is given to technical readiness, overhauls, and modernization of the fleet. We expect that in the coming year the fleet will be reinforced with new assets", said the admiral.

Answering the question what reforms Northern Fleet had undergone, Maksimov said that "during reformations in Russian Armed Forces, the portion of officers' positions in Northern Fleet has been reduced from 28.2 per cent to 18.5 per cent of the fleet's total manpower. Further staff reductions are not planned", he emphasized.