Russia and China have organized a joint military exercise to detect and destroy an enemy submarine in the Sea of Japan, Reuters reported, citing the Ministry of Defense in Moscow, BTA reports.
The news was announced just days after US President Donald Trump said he had ordered the deployment of two US nuclear submarines closer to Russia.
The Russian Defense Ministry indicates that Chinese anti-submarine aircraft Yun-8 (Y-8), Il-38 aircraft of the Russian Pacific Fleet and helicopters participated in the exercise. "As a result of effective joint actions, the "enemy" submarine was quickly detected and destroyed," the military department said in a statement. "After completing their anti-submarine tasks, the crews of the Russian and Chinese ships exchanged thanks for the fruitful work," the defense ministry added.
Trump said he ordered the dispatch of the two submarines in response to the "extremely provocative" statements by former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev about the risk of war between the nuclear-armed rivals.
The Kremlin this week downplayed the significance of Trump's move, pointing out that US submarines are on constant alert anyway and adding that "everyone should be very, very careful with nuclear rhetoric".
The situation has developed at a delicate moment, when the US president is threatening to impose new sanctions on Russia and countries that buy Russian oil, including India and China, unless President Putin agrees to end the war in Ukraine, Reuters notes.
The anti-submarine exercise is part of a wider series of Russian-Chinese naval maneuvers organized in the past week. Moscow and Beijing, which have declared "unlimited" strategic partnership shortly before Russia attacked Ukraine in 2022, regularly organize joint military exercises.