A detachment of ships of the black sea fleet completes the transition to Novorossiysk to participate in joint exercises with the Egyptian Navy. This was announced on Monday by the press service of the southern military district. This is the first joint exercise of the two countries ' navies in the region.
"The Russian-Egyptian exercises "bridge of friendship-2020" will be held from November 17 to 24 in Novorossiysk and at the sea training grounds of the black sea fleet. The coastal and sea phases of the exercises are planned, which will be held for the first time in The black sea," the press service of the black sea fleet said.
From the Russian side, the maneuvers will involve the crews of ships and auxiliary vessels, including the frigate Admiral Makarov, the small rocket ship Orekhovo-Zuyevo, the patrol ship Dmitry Rogachev and the rescue tug ship Professor Nikolai Muru.
The purpose of the exercise is to strengthen and develop military cooperation between the Russian Navy and the Egyptian Navy "for safety at sea, as well as to exchange experience between Russian and Egyptian military sailors in repelling various threats in areas of heavy navigation."
During the maneuvers, the ships of the two countries will work out all types of defense with shooting at surface and air targets. Private exercises will be held to organize resupply at sea using the traverse method (using cables stretched between two ships-approx. "RG"), as well as on working out actions for inspection operations in relation to suspicious vessels. In addition, the crews will perform tasks to assist the ship in distress with the search and rescue of a drowning person.
The head of the exercise from the Egyptian side and the head of the delegation that arrived in Novorossiysk was appointed head of the operations Department of the Egyptian Navy, rear Admiral Mahmoud Adel Mahmoud Faizi. The Egyptian naval group consisting of the frigate Alexandria F911 (Oliver Hazard Perry-class), the Corvette El Fateh 971 (Gowind-class) and the missile boat M. Fahmy 686 (Ezzat class) on Sunday freely passed the Turkish-controlled Dardanelles and Bosphorus Straits in the Northern direction and headed for Novorossiysk. It is worth noting that in the Black sea, Egyptian warships, according to the Montreux Convention, will be able to stay for no more than 21 days, and their actions will be limited. Since Egypt is not a state that has its own access to the Black sea.
According to military experts, the upcoming naval exercises of the Russian Federation and Egypt should sober up some hotheads in Turkey who suddenly remembered their country's Imperial ambitions. Cairo has disagreements with the Turkish leadership over the situation in Libya, and Moscow has assumed responsibility for resolving the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh, in which the Turks did not hesitate to interfere.
Recall that Russia and Egypt have been conducting joint maneuvers for several years in a row. The first "bridge of friendship" military maneuvers in the history of the two countries ' navies took place in the Mediterranean sea in June 2015. In November 2019, the "Arrow of friendship-2019" maneuvers of the military air defense forces of the two countries were held, and a little earlier-in Russia, units of the Russian airborne forces taught Egyptian paratroopers to act as part of tactical air landings at the "defenders of friendship-2019" maneuvers.
Ivan Petrov