Article Posted on : - Feb 28, 2012

A file photo.

MOSCOW (BNS): Russian Navy's Northern Fleet will hold the annual 'Pomor' naval exercise with the Norwegian Navy in the Arctic in May this year.

A Russian military commander has embarked on a three-day visit to Norway to discuss the joint maritime drill, according to Ria Novosti.

The two countries have been conducting the annual naval drill since 2010 "to practice interoperability in the environmentally fragile Arctic area."

The exercise includes artillery firing, anti-submarine warfare drills, anti-piracy operations, and search-and-rescue missions.

Last year, the two navies had conducted the drill in the Barents and Norwegian Seas in which Russia's Udaloy class destroyer Vice Admiral Kulakov from the Northern Fleet and Norway's Fridtjof Nansen class frigate Helge Ingstad had taken part along with coastal guard vessels and naval aircraft.