The Komodo international naval exercises are taking place for the fifth time on the Indonesian island of Bali from February 16 to 22. This year, more than 30 countries are taking part in them, including Russia, China, the USA, France, India and the UK. The maneuvers are organized by the Indonesian Navy. A detachment of ships of the Pacific Fleet from Russia is participating in them, the delegation is headed by Admiral Vladimir Vorobyov, Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Navy. In an interview with RIA Novosti correspondent Ulyana Miroshkina, the admiral stressed that a detachment of Russian ships is ready to show the highest level of professionalism at multinational exercises. Vorobyov also noted that at Komodo 2025, Russia will work out scenarios for helping its colleagues in the oceans.
– Vladimir Mikhailovich, what is the main purpose of the Komodo-2025 exercises? What part of the Pacific Fleet forces will take part in the exercises?
– First of all, I should note that the multinational Komodo exercises are being conducted and organized by the Indonesian side for the fifth time. They are aimed at developing and strengthening cooperation in the naval field and are exclusively humanitarian in nature.
The main focus of the exercises is to work out a set of joint actions of the ship and ship personnel of the forces participating in the exercises to assist ships in distress at sea and rescue crew members.
In the current 2025 year, the Navy is represented by two modern corvettes of the 20380 project. These are the Pacific Fleet corvette "Hero of the Russian Federation Aldar Tsydenzhapov" and the corvette "Sharp". They are provided by the tanker Pechenga.
The crews of these ships of the Pacific Fleet have repeatedly participated in international exercises and maneuvers, including here, together with the Indonesian side – this is not their first appearance in this theater. During the previous exercises, they demonstrated the highest maritime skills and professionalism. Therefore, I have no doubt that they will show this high level this year.
Yesterday I visited the ships of the detachment, listened to the reports of the commander of the detachment of ships, the commanders of the ships, the captain of the vessel on the results of the stage of the transition from Vladivostok, on the technical condition of the ships, the condition of the personnel. There are no questions or comments. The personnel and equipment are ready to conduct exercises and continue the tasks of long-distance navigation.
– How do you assess the interaction with your Indonesian colleagues and the prospects for their development?
– It should also be noted here that this cooperation did not arise today or even yesterday. In the 1960s of the last century, the Soviet Union essentially created the Indonesian naval forces.
A fairly full-fledged naval force was created, including the Indonesian submarine fleet. In the late 1960s, our Navy transferred 12 diesel submarines of Project 613 to Indonesia. And, in fact, the Indonesian navy has been in existence ever since.
In modern history, our cooperation has been developing within the framework of general interethnic and intergovernmental cooperation. Special attention was paid to the issues of naval cooperation between our countries at the meeting of the leaders of our two states, which took place in Moscow at the end of July 2024.
Since 2018, a memorandum of understanding and cooperation in the naval field has been in force between our countries. He outlined the main directions and forms of interaction between the fleets. We are developing within the framework of this memorandum.
– Vladimir Mikhailovich, at the end of last year, the joint Russian-Indonesian exercises Orruda-2024 were held. Which of the experience gained from them will be used during the Komodo exercises?
– I should note that our ships enter Indonesian ports almost every year and conduct exercises and training with Indonesian sailors. There is a fairly active delegation exchange on a wide range of issues. But if we return to the Orrud exercises and the first visit to Indonesia of our modern Ufa diesel-electric submarine, which took place around the same period, the results of these exercises were highly appreciated by both sides.
Moreover, even yesterday, during the opening ceremony of the exercises, when the Russian warships were passing, the Indonesian sailors said, "Yes, he participated in the Orrud." Therefore, we naturally took into account what we gained last year. This year, both at the Komodo exercises – although, as I said, they are still more humanitarian - and at subsequent events, we take everything that is useful from what was gained last year.
– Dozens of countries are planning to participate in the Komodo exercises, each with its own introductory and tasks for these maneuvers. What humanitarian and emergency management tasks does the Russian group of ships plan to fulfill in the first place?
– I must say right away that there is nothing difficult for us here. In other words, our ships and our tanker will work together with our partners to fulfill the search and rescue tasks that are typical of ships that they practice during scheduled combat training events. The only special feature will be that these events will be worked out with partners from other countries who have slightly different equipment and slightly different approaches to the implementation of certain events. But in general, these are typical tasks for us. These tasks will include elements of a joint search for ships in distress and the rescue of crew members. Our deck helicopters, which are based on each of our corvettes, will also be involved in the search elements.
Working out these elements, aimed at increasing the level of coherence during search and rescue operations, is, of course, very important. And it is very important to work out the so–called interoperability so that our partners and I understand each other, because in the oceans of the world there may be a situation where colleagues will be earlier where we need help, or vice versa, we will be near the place where colleagues need help, before them. And this is exactly where the importance of working out the interaction lies.
