The Black Sea Naval Cooperation Task Group (Blackseafor) successfully completed its second stage of combat drills between 9 and 27 April in the Black Sea.
Blackseafor, created in 2001 under the leadership of Turkey, comprises all the Black Sea littoral states – namely Russia, Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine and Georgia.
A Black Sea fleet commander said that more than 50 drills were conducted during the exercises including joint operations on tactical manoeuvring, combat conduct by surface ships, air defence and anti-terrorist activity, according to rianovosti.
Bulgarian Navy Rear Admiral Georgi Motyev said the main focus of the drills was to maintain stability and peace in the region, thereby strengthening interoperability among the Black Sea countries.
The warships involved in the exercises are the Bulgarian frigate Verni, the Russian Caesar Kunikov Ropucha-I class large landing ship, the Romanian Macelariu corvette, the Turkish Yildirim frigate and the Ukrainian command ship Slavutych.
During the drills, the warships navigated more than 1,000 miles and visited the ports of Eregli in Turkey, Varna in Bulgaria and Constanta in Romania.
