(DEFENCE SECURITY ASIA) — The Russian warships from its Pacific Fleet have reportedly conducted anti-air and anti-submarine exercises in the strategic waters of the South China Sea, evidence of the growing military cooperation between Moscow and Beijing.
Russian news agency TASS reported that both Russian Navy destroyer ships from the Pacific Fleet, RFS Admiral Tributs and RFS Admiral Panteleev, have carried out anti-aircraft and anti-submarine exercises in those waters.
“Both warships have conducted exercises searching for enemy submarines in those waters. The involved warships also sailed from the Philippine Sea to the South China Sea,” the news agency said.
TASS also mentioned that both ships are currently conducting joint operations in the northern part of the South China Sea.
Among the maritime operations carried out by the two ships in the South China Sea include further enhancing their anti-aircraft techniques, simulating anti-submarine operations, and maritime helicopter operations with the Ka-27.
According to the Russian Navy’s Pacific Fleet, the primary objective of their long-distance voyages of warships is to highlight Russia’s naval presence in those waters, strengthen cooperation with foreign countries, and promote Russia’s Navy internationally.
The Russian Pacific Fleet has carried out various “important missions” in the Asia-Pacific region.
However, the Russian Navy’s Pacific Fleet did not specify the duration of their warships’ presence in the South China Sea.
Nevertheless, the waters of the Pacific have seen an increased presence of Russian warships from the Pacific Fleet based in Vladivostok, located in the far east of Russia.
Vladivostok, the main base for the Russian Navy’s Pacific Fleet, is located far north of Japan.
The increased “presence” of Russian warships in the waters of the Pacific Ocean is in line with the growing military and diplomatic cooperation between Russia and China.
Both countries cite the need to “protect” critical Sea Lanes Of Communication (SLOC) and jointly maintain security and stability in the Indo-Pacific as their reasons for such naval presence.
The military cooperation between the navies of both countries has been growing in recent times.
In August, the United States’ leaders characterized an incident as “historic” and unprecedented when a fleet of 11 Russian and Chinese warships were detected conducting war exercises and patrols in the Aleutian Islands near Alaska’s waters.
The fleet of Russian and Chinese warships, which sailed close to U.S. territorial waters, included destroyers like RFS Admiral Panteleyev (548) and RFS Admiral Tributs (564), the corvette RFS Gremyashchiy (337), and RFS Hero of the Russian Federation Aldar Tsydenzhapov (339), as well as the oiler ship Pechenga.
The Chinese warships consisted of the destroyer ships CNS Guiyang (119) and CNS Qiqihar (121), the frigate CNS Zaozhuang (542) and CNS Rizhao (598), and the oiler ship CNS Taihu (889).
Alaska is one of the northernmost states in the United States, and its waters are adjacent to the Bering Strait.
It is the U.S. state closest to Russia, with Little Diomede Island (owned by the U.S.) located approximately 4 km from Big Diomede Island (owned by Russia).
The Wall Street Journal described the actions of Russian and Chinese warships near U.S. waters as “highly provocative” due to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine and China’s aggressive stance around Taiwan.
Senator Dan Sullivan, an Alaska Republican representative, told Fox News that what the Russian and Chinese warships did in waters very close to U.S. territorial waters had never happened before.
“This has never happened before, especially involving the scope and size of the Russian and Chinese naval fleets, which are working very closely together.”
In response to the presence of 11 Russian and Chinese warships in Alaskan waters, the U.S. Navy deployed four of its destroyer ships and a maritime patrol aircraft P-8 “Poseidon” to shadow the movements of these “enemy” ships. — DSA
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