.Int'l naval exercises Baltops-2010 to be launched in Baltic Sea.

KALININGRAD, June 7 (Itar-Tass) -- The international naval exercises
Baltops-2010 (Baltic Operations) will be launched in the Baltic Sea on
Monday. The naval exercises will last until June 18.
The warships of the countries, which participate in the annual naval
exercises, which are held under the Partnership for Peace program, are
leaving the Polish port Gdynia. An assembly and a conference were held
prior to the naval exercises at the port from June 4 to 6.
The warships will head for the areas of the naval exercises
Baltops-2010. Three areas were assigned for the naval exercises this year:
off the coast of Latvia and Estonia and on the whole Baltic Sea. The U.S.
European Command of the Naval Forces traditionally supervises the naval
exercises Baltops.
The Baltops-2010 organizers said in a press release that the
international naval exercises in the Baltic Sea are seeking to promote
mutual understanding, trust, closer cooperation between the naval forces
and the staff of the Baltops states and to give an opportunity to the
domestic naval forces and the staffs to raise their qualification level in
several joint drills.
The naval exercises Baltops-2010 involved the naval forces of Russia,
Germany, France, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands, the United
States, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Belgium. About 40 surface
warships and supply vessels, submarines, as well as airplanes and
helicopters will participate in the naval exercises.
The active stage of the naval exercises in the Baltic Sea envisages
live gun fire drills at air and sea targets, maneuvering in a group of
warships, communication exercises, air defense exercises, the search for
and the destruction of a submarine of an imaginary enemy, a check-up
aboard a vessel, which is a simulated transgressor, as well as the
struggle against terrorism in the high seas and other joint drills.
The large landing ship Kaliningrad under the command of Captain 2nd
Rank Mikhail Kushnerev will represent Russia at the naval exercises. The
Kaliningrad is staffed with a unit of marines. This warship, which is
based at the main Baltic Fleet naval base in Baltiisk, will participate in
the naval exercises Baltops not for the first time. The Kaliningrad has
already participated in these naval exercises for five times,
independently and in a group of Russian warships. The Baltops command
praised the Russian Baltic naval sailors each time.
"The participation of Russian warships in the naval exercises Baltops,
at which the Baltic Fleet is traditionally represented, contributes to the
development of confidence-building measures in the Baltic Sea region, to
stronger mutual understanding and further cooperation between the
countries, Assistant Commander of the Baltic Fleet Captain First Rank Yuri
Kuroyedov told Itar-Tass.
The large landing ship Kaliningrad is among the flagships of the
Baltic Fleet. The Kaliningrad is on combat duty in the Russian Navy since
December 1984. For this period of time the warship has performed training
combat missions in the Baltic Sea, the North Sea and the Mediterranean
Sea, and the Atlantic Ocean for more than ten times. The large landing
ship Kaliningrad was named the best warship in the Russian Navy in 2009,
and has won a prize of the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Navy for
marine landing training among the Baltic Fleet landing warships for 15
years in a row.
The large landing ship Kaliningrad is 112.5 meters long, 15 meters
wide and with a water displacement of 4,080 tonnes. Its average speed is
18 knots. The landing ship is armed with two twinned 57-mm gun mounts
AK-725, two launchers of the multiple launch fire system A-215 Grad-M,
four launchers of the mobile air defense system Strela-2. The Kaliningrad
can deploy up to 500 tonnes of military hardware and cargoes and 225
paratroopers.

.North Korea parliament to sit amid sharp tensions between Koreas.

PYONGYANG, June 7 (Itar-Tass) -- The North Korean Supreme People's
Assembly (parliament) will open Monday its second session this year amid
sharp tensions on the Korean Peninsula. The sinking of the South Korean
corvette Cheonan in the Yellow Sea on March 26 triggered a new spiral of
tensions. Some 46 sailors died in the sunken corvette.
The expert committee, which the South Korean government ordered to set
up involving foreign experts, came to conclusion that the corvette was
destroyed by a torpedo launched from a North Korean small submarine.
Meanwhile, North Korea denies its involvement in the incident, claiming
that all accusations brought against the country by the investigation
committee, which was not recognized on the international scene, "were
framed up under the pressure from the United States."
The North Korean State Defence Commission, which is in charge of
country's security, demanded from South Korea to receive a group of
experts for an unbiased investigation into the corvette sinking. Seoul
refused to receive North Korean experts.
North Korean media did not report on the agenda of a forthcoming
parliament session. According to regional news agencies, deputies of the
single-chamber North Korean parliament will most likely state about the
approaches and the position of principle on the sinking of the North
Korean warship. They will also debate several economic reforms. Some
reshuffles are possible. The North Korean parliament usually holds one
session a year.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Il appeared in public last Sunday, when
he visited a major fruit farm over its completed reconstruction. He was
satisfied with the work of military builders from the People's Security
Ministry "succeeding to implement a large-scale project for a short period
of time." Kim Jong Il did not attend the latest session of the Supreme
People's Assembly last April.
-0-baz


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