Russian navy, aircraft track down 'notional' enemy submarine in Norwegian Sea in drill

Amid tensions with Ukraine at the border, Russian warships practised anti-submarine warfare missions during drills in the Norwegian Sea.

The country's defence ministry said the "sailors hunted down a notional enemy’s submarine using sonars and data from military pilots".

The missile cruiser Marshal Ustinov and the warship Admiral Kasatonov hunted down the notional enemy submarines. The ships used "radio-technical equipment" and an "onboard sonar" to track down the submarines.

Russia had earlier informed that a series of naval drills will be held in January-February this year even as it is involved a war of nerves with the West over Ukraine.

The drills are set to be conducted in Russian territory including "operationally important areas of the World Ocean", TASS news agency reported.

There will be at least 140 warships and support vessels, more than 60 aircraft, 1,000 items of military hardware and about 10,000 troops.

Russia's Northern Fleet has completed anti-submarine drills in the Norwegian Sea. 

Russian military moves are being closely watched by the West at a time when a troop build-up near its border with Ukraine has sparked fears of a conflict. Moscow has denied it plans to launch an attack on Ukraine.

Russia has spooked Ukraine and the West in recent weeks by massing some 120,000 troops near its border with the former Soviet republic that now wants to join NATO.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday (January 28) the West has not addressed Moscow's main security demands in the crisis over Ukraine but that he is ready to keep talking to avert a further escalation.

The Russian navy is to go ahead with live fire exercises off the coast of Ireland despite heightened tensions with the West over Ukraine, the Irish fishing industry said on Thursday.

The drills, expected February 1-5 around 200 kilometres southwest of Ireland, had raised fears Irish fishermen would be unable to operate in the area - in international waters but inside Ireland's Exclusive Economic Zone.

Irish Fish Processors and Exporters Association (IFPEA) representatives held talks with Russian ambassador to Dublin Yury Filatov and a "fair deal" was reached for the drills and fishing to continue, the IFPEA's Brendan Byrne told AFP.

The announcement came with relations between Russia and the West at their lowest point since the Cold War after Moscow deployed tens of thousands of troops on the border of Ukraine.
 

Russia denies any plans to invade but last month demanded wide-ranging security guarantees from the West, including assurances Ukraine never be allowed to join the US-led NATO military alliance.

Ireland is neutral and not a NATO member. 

IFPEA chief executive Byrne complained that the fishing industry "got no traction from the (Irish) government" in the discussions.

Ireland's foreign and defence minister Simon Coveney, who represents Cork in southwest Ireland, has said they had no powers to prevent the exercises from taking place but had told Filatov they were "not welcome".

The Russian military said Tuesday it had launched exercises involving some 6,000 troops and at least 60 fighter jets in southern Russia near Ukraine and in Moscow-annexed Crimea.

The southern military district described the live-fire drills as a combat readiness check, as tensions rage between Moscow and the West over Crimea.

Fighter jets and bombers will practise carrying out air strikes "against targets at the maximum distance", among other tasks, Russian news agencies said, quoting the defence ministry.
 

Putin offered his first reaction to the US and NATO responses to Russia's demands in a phone call with French President Emmanuel Macron after weeks of personal public silence.

A French presidency official said Putin, in his call with Macron, had underlined that he did not want the situation to intensify, echoing conciliatory comments by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who said Moscow did not want war.

The United States and NATO have said some of Russia's demands are non-starters but have also left the door open to dialogue.
 

The drills will take place in Russian-annexed Crimea and the southern Rostov and Krasnodar regions.

There was no indication of how long the exercises would last.

The West is accusing Russia, which has massed 100,000 troops on the Ukrainian border, of preparing a potential invasion of its pro-Western neighbour.

The troop build-up has sparked the biggest crisis in East-West ties since the Cold War.