Every Fleet Should Know Its Maneuver
27 апреля, 00:00
By Serhiy ZGURETS,The Day
Three thousand men, 15 warships, and 13 aircraft are taking part in the
combat maneuvers of the Ukrainian Navy which started April 19 in the northwest
Black Sea. Our navy had planned to conduct, in the course of a week, five
missile and 54 artillery practice firings, to test in action the capabilities
of shore-based missile systems and long-range missile boats along with
the ability of our seamen to combat enemy submarines, surface ships, and
mines. Asked who the enemy is, our military always answers with the traditional
imaginary enemy. However, on April 19 the Russian Black Sea Fleet also
began its open-sea cruise. And although each of the two fleets has a task
of its own, they will not avoid cooperating in a way. It was agreed that
the seamen would prepare jointly the test fire area in the Black Sea marine
territory and keep things going. The Ukrainian Navy says the exercise envisages
no joint actions with the Russian Black Sea Fleet, while the Ukrainian
Ministry of Defense stated last week that our naval exercise had nothing
to do with Yugoslav events. Such caution is quite understandable, for the
Black Sea Fleet was expected to take a strike group of warships to the
Yugoslav coast via the Mediterranean as part of its cruise. Such actions
would formally connect Ukraine's and Russia's Black Sea activities with
the measures Moscow planned to take in response to NATO activities in Yugoslavia.
But it became clear on April 19 that the Black Sea Fleet will go no farther
than the Bosporus and Dardanelles. Only a repair mother ship was sent to
the coast of Syria.
Выпуск газеты №:
№16, (1999)Section
Day After Day
