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Russian Fleet Ramps Up Naval Exercises Near US Allies


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Russian naval forces stationed near U.S. treaty allies in Asia have held a second consecutive week of live-fire training as they ramp up maneuvers ahead of larger springtime exercises.

Three warships with Russia's Pacific Fleet, home-ported on the Peter the Great Gulf in the Sea of Japan, were involved in "artillery firing" drills against a range of simulated enemies, according to a statement on Wednesday carried by the Russian news agency Tass.

The Russian fleet is headquartered in the closed town of Fokino in the country's Far East on the Sea of Japan, which is known in both North and South Korea as the East Sea. The waters are also shared with China and Japan.

The theater forces are responsible for safeguarding Moscow's interests in the strategic Pacific region—now a top priority for all major powers, not least the United States, whose own Pacific Fleet is based in Pearl Harbor in Hawaii.

Russia's Pacific Fleet, along with its Northern Fleet counterpart in the Arctic, houses the nation's nuclear submarine force.

The Hero of the Russian Federation Aldar Tsydenzhapov, the Gromkiy and the Sovershennyy—three Project 20380 corvettes also known by the NATO reporting name the Steregushchiy class—took part in the latest "tactical maneuvers," Tass said.

The combat drills against mock enemies—ships, sea drones and coastal targets—involved autocannon firing. The crews also staged an exercise in which an imaginary adversary's submarine was detected, pursued and forced to surface, according to the report.

The intensity of Russia's recent naval training, which last week involved a simulated missile strike in the same area, suggests a preamble before the navy's exercises this spring. They are likely to involve the Chinese military, according to recent precedent.

Russian Navy Steps Up Springtime Drills
The Russian Navy’s missile boat Dimitrovgrad in the Gulf of Finland on July 28, 2022. Russian warships in the Pacific have stepped up naval exercises this month. OLGA MALTSEVA/AFP via Getty Images

China's warships have also been active in the Pacific in recent weeks, according to Japan's Defense Ministry.

On Monday, the Joint Staff of Japan's Self-Defense Forces said it monitored three Chinese navy ships entering the Sea of Japan from the East China Sea, a trajectory that put them on course for a possible joint exercise with the Russian flotilla in the near future.

For three summers in a row, Russian and Chinese warships have held expeditionary naval maneuvers in the Sea of Japan and the Western Pacific, often encircling Japan's main islands in what Tokyo calls a "show of force."

The Aldar Tsydenzhapov participated in last year's 7,000 nautical mile patrol, and the Sovershennyy and the Gromkiy participated in similar exercises in 2022.

The Russian and Chinese militaries have yet to announce plans for upcoming drills, although they both sent ships to the Middle East this month as part of the recently concluded naval maneuvers in the Gulf of Oman—together with the Iranian Navy.

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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.

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