World     

Russia, NATO countries to stage joint drill

Xinhua, March 13, 2012

• Russia will join NATO countries in an international peacekeeping drill in the Baltic Sea in September, the Russian Baltic Fleet announced Monday.

  A Russian warship will join the Danex-2012 exercise, to be staged by 20 countries, including Italy, Portugal, Turkey and Germany.

  "The drill's task is to train multinational navy groups for settling local conflicts and conducting a peacekeeping operation," the Russian Navy said, adding that Danex-2012 would help facilitate mutual understanding and work out practical interactions among the fleets in the sea.

  In February, Russia announced it would stage joint anti-missile exercises with NATO, despite their ongoing dispute over the European anti-missile defense system.

  Russian Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov said the exercises were likely to take place in Germany, possibly in March, but the exact date had yet to be set.

  Moscow opposes the deployment of U.S.-led NATO missile defense facilities near its borders and wants legally binding guarantees from the United States and NATO that the system is not targeting Russia.

Copyright © China.org.cn. All Rights Reserved