BLACKSEAFOR to organize drills

BLACKSEFOR ships left Sevastopol today to start joint naval drills of Bulgaria, Romania, Russia, Ukraine and Turkey, ITAR-TASS cites Second-Rank Nikolai Voskresensky, spokesman of the Black Sea Fleet of Russia.

Three auxiliary ships, a Mi-14 helicopter and a Petr Gradov ecological control ship will assist the drills. Russia will use the Bora hover ship with missiles.

The drills will continue until August 23 and end at the Novorossiysk Port (Russia).

BLACKSEAFOR was founded in Istanbul on April 2, 2001. It consists of Bulgaria, Georgia, Russia, Romania, Turkey and Ukraine.