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Baltic Fleet (BF) minesweeping task unit consisting of two harbor minesweepers Alexei Lebedev and Sergei Kolbasiev left the fleet's main base Baltiysk on Aug 27.
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BF ships to attend international countermine exercise
08/30/2010 |
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BF minesweepers will take part in international naval exercise Open Spirit annually held in the Baltic Sea. The unit is commanded by Capt 1 rank Pavel Prosekov, Baltiysk Naval Base harbor defense force commander.
About 20 warships from Belgium, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Russia, Finland, France, and Estonia will participate in the Open Spirit exercise this year.
The participants will concentrate in Lithuanian port Klaipeda to hold a 2-day inshore phase which implies pre-exercise coordination and acquaintanceship among the minesweepers' crews. Besides, some protocol events are going to be conducted in Klaipeda; naval servicemen will be offered with cultural and sport programs.
The exercise will last till Sept 8 and be summarized in the port of Klaipeda.
Minesweeping exercise Open Spirit was firstly held in 1997. It is the core activity in the Europe military cooperation program aimed at clearance of nearshore waters of the Baltic Sea from explosive objects remained since world wars. BF ships will attend those maneuvers for the fifth time. In 2003, 2005, 2006, and 2007 Russian minesweepers detected and neutralized about 50 explosive (mine-like) objects within the framework of the Open Spirit exercise.