CAIRO, October 11. /TASS/: The navies of Egypt and Russia are preparing to hold joint exercises in the Black Sea in the near future, the Al Arabiya TV channel reported on Saturday.
An Egyptian military expert, Maj. Gen. Gamal Mazlum told TASS that it would be the first-ever Russian-Egyptian naval exercise.
"Egyptian forces will arrive to the Black Sea via the international transit straits of Bosphorus and Dardanelles," he said. "In the course of the maneuvers, the sides will practice joint combat tasks according to advanced warfighting tactics."
The two countries’ servicemen will also share their experience as part of the military cooperation between the two states, the expert said.
"Depending on their timing and location, naval maneuvers send a kind of signal to regional countries and the international community," Mazlum continued. "They can also be viewed as a response to certain states’ attempts to destabilize the region, particularly the Eastern Mediterranean. Naval exercises underline the need for an effort to ease tensions in a region."
The Black Sea Fleet’s press office reported on October 8 that Russian and Egyptian navies will hold joint drills in the Black Sea until the end of this year. In Novorossiysk, the delegations of the Russian Navy and the Navy of the Arab Republic of Egypt held a three-day conference on preparing and holding the joint exercise Bridge of Friendship -2020. During the drills, the warships of the Russian Navy’s Black Sea Fleet and the Egyptian Navy will practice measures with the support of aircraft to defend sea lanes against various threats. Under the single scenario, forces will be deployed to organize communications and resupply at sea and the participants in the maneuvers will hold an inspection of suspicious vessels.
