You're reading: Ukrainian Navy and Russian Black Sea Fleet hold exercises of search and rescue units

Joint search and rescue exercises by units of the Ukrainian Navy and the Russian Black Sea fleet were carried out on May 25, as part of the Russian-Ukrainian Fairway of Peace 2011 military drills, the press center of the Ukrainian fleet's command has told Interfax-Ukraine.

Sailors from the two states conducted a training exercise in rescuing crews from sinking ships.

Specialists from the search and rescue center of the Ukrainian Navy, crews of the Zaporizhia submarine, the Sokal sanitary cutter, and the Romny inshore boat, and agroup of medical employees of the military clinical center of Crimea’s region were involved in the exercises from the Ukrainian side, and the Russian side was represented by employees of the search and rescue department of the Russian Black Sea fleet and a crew from the VM-125 diving boat.

Ukrainian Navy Commander Admiral Viktor Maksymov, the head of Fairway of Peace 2011 drills Black Sea Fleet Commander Vice Admiral Vladimir Koroliov, and the first deputy drills head and first deputy commander of the Ukrainian Navy, Vice Admiral Serhiy Yeliseyev, observed the training exercise.

As reported, the Russian-Ukrainian Fairway of Peace 2011 military exercises are held in Sevastopol and the northwest part of the Black Sea on May 23-27. The theme of the drills is carrying out international peacekeeping operations in a crisis area.