"As part of the Ocean 2024 strategic command and staff exercise, crews of the Dagestan missile ship and the Astrakhan and Volgodonsk small artillery ships from the Caspian Flotilla worked together as a naval tactical group to destroy a floating mine that posed a threat to civilian shipping. The target was hit by heavy machine gun fire," the statement read.
The Ocean 2024 exercise began on Tuesday and will last until September 16. It has been touted as a major event in the operational and combat training program of the Russian armed forces in 2024.
More than 500 pieces of military equipment and more than 90,000 military personnel are involved in the maneuvers, underway in the Pacific and Arctic oceans, the Mediterranean, Caspian and Baltic seas.
The Ocean 2024 aims to verify the navy key personnel to manage diverse groups of forces within their areas of responsibility, including solving non-standard operational challenges, the integrated use of precision weapons, as well as advanced and modern equipment. Another objective is to expand cooperation with the navies of partner countries to solve joint tasks at sea.