Russia, NORAD to have joint air defense exercise.

WASHINGTON, August 3 (Itar-Tass) - Russian Air Force and the North
American Aerospace Defense Command /NORAD/ will conduct a first-ever
cooperative air defense exercise that will simulate the cooperative
actions of combat units in dealing with acts of terrorism aboard civilian
jets and hijacking, NORAD said in a report for the mass media Monday.
"The civilian air control agencies of Russia /the Federal Air
Navigational Service/ and the United States /Federal Aviation
Administration/ will also be involved in the exercise along with the
military air operations centers at Elmendorf AFB, Alaska, and Khabarovsk,
Russia," the report said.
The exercise codenamed Vigilant Eagle "will take place on or about
August 8 to August 11 and involves Russian, Canadian and U.S. Air Force
personnel operating from command centers in Russia and the United States."
NORAD recalled that the exercise is authorized under a cooperative
military agreement signed by Russian and U.S. Presidents.
"The agreement tasks NORAD, the bi-national U.S. and Canadian command,
and the Russian Federation Air Force to conduct a live-fly exercise for up
to five days," the report said.
"It will consist of two international flights: one originating in
Alaska and traveling to the Far East followed by one originating in the
Far East and traveling to Alaska. Both flights will follow the same
route," NORAD said.
The basic premise is that a U.S. flagged commercial air carrier on an
international flight /Fencing 1220/ has been taken over by terrorists. The
aircraft will not respond to communications.
"The exercise scenario will create a situation that requires both the
Russian Air Force and NORAD to launch or divert fighter aircraft to
investigate and follow Fencing 1220," NORAD indicated.
The exercise will focus on shadowing and the cooperative hand-off of
the monitored aircraft /Fencing 1220/ between fighters of the
participating nations.
Airborne warning and control aircraft /AWACS E-3B and A-50/ from
Russia and the U.S. will be involved along with fighter-interceptor
aircraft and refueling aircraft from both countries.
"This combined exercise moves us forward in the development of
cooperation between the Russian Federation Air Force and NORAD in
preventing possible threats of air terrorism" and it provides "the
opportunity to cooperatively detect, track, identify, intercept and follow
an aircraft as it proceeds across international boundaries," the report
said.


.Wildfire sweep across 17 Russian regions -- ministry.

MOSCOW, August 3 (Itar-Tass) - Data for Monday, August 2 suggests that
wildfires are raging in seventeen regions of Russia in the aftermath of an
unprecedented heatwave, the Ministry of Public Health and Social
Development said in a report.
"There have been no calls for medical assistance /in the wake of the
situation/ in eight regions - Arkhangelsk, Volgograd, Saratov, Vladimir,
Ivanovo, Sverdlovsk, Leningrad, and Mary-El," the report said.
"However, fires caused medical and sanitary consequences among the
population of nine regions - Mordovia, Kamchatka, Belgorod, Voronezh,
Lipetsk, Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod, Ryazan, and Tambov."
All in all, the medics received 323 requests for urgent aid in these
regions.
Of that number, 261 people received aid at outpatient clinics and 62
persons have been admitted to hospitals.
At the time of reporting, 48 people affected by forest fires were
still staying at hospitals.
Along with it, 40 people have died after the outbreak of fires, the
report indicated.


.Earthquake of 5 pts registered in north of Russia's Far East.

MAGADAN, August 3 (Itar-Tass) - An earthquake measuring 5.3 points on
the open-ended Richter scale occurred at 02:17 local Tuesday /14:17 GMT
Monday/ in the basin of the Far Eastern river of Kolyma, Russia's Magadan
region.
The epicenter was located 325 kilometers to the northeast of the town
of Okhotsk and 393 kilometers to the northwest of Magadan.
The seismic focus of the quake was identified at 10 kilometers below
the surface of the earth.
Quakes measuring up to 4 points were felt in the Kolyma area towns of
Omchak, Susuman and Myaundzha.
There have been no reports on any consequences of the quakes so far.
-0-kle


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