Pakistan Navy is all set to participate in the upcoming naval exercise ‘Sea Breeze 2021 (SB21)’ as an observer. The US Sixth Fleet and Ukrainian Navy are jointly holding the exercise which will be held from June 28 to July 10 in the Black Sea region.
Exercise Sea Breeze 2021 starting from June 28th to July 12th. @PakistanNavy is participating as Observer along with other 31 nations. Defence Attaché will represent Pakistan in this global meet. @DGPRPAKNAVY @DGISPR @GovtofPakistan pic.twitter.com/Lu3pNGzX5D
— PTV News (@PTVNewsOfficial) June 23, 2021
“Pakistan is among the participating countries and Pakistan Defence Attaché Ukraine will participate as observer,” an official of Pakistan Navy’s media directorate said. He also said no Pakistani ship would take part in the activities.
Activities at SB21 would include amphibious warfare, land manoeuvre warfare, diving operations, maritime interdiction operations, air defence, special operations integration, anti-submarine warfare and search and rescue operations.
The exercise has been held annually since 1997. Organisers say it brings “most Black Sea nations and Nato allies and partners together to train and operate with Nato members in the pursuit of building increased capability”.
Notably, Tunisia, UAE, Morocco and Egypt are joining the Sea Breeze 2021 naval exercises as participant or observers, which will be launched at the end of this month in the Black Sea.
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Even countries that do not have any official relations or whose relations are going through a critical period of tension, such as Israel and Pakistan, will participate in these naval maneuvers.
These exercises are described as a significant NATO event, although dozens of non-NATO countries will be involved as participants or observers.
The list of these countries includes the US, Ukraine, Britain, Israel, Albania, Australia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Denmark, Egypt, Estonia, France, Georgia, Greece, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Morocco, Norway, Pakistan, Poland, Romania, Senegal, Spain, South Korea, Sweden, Tunisia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates.
The US Navy stated that these naval military exercises, which will last for 12 days, will include “amphibious warfare, land maneuver warfare, diving operations, maritime interception operations, air defense, special operations integration, anti-submarine warfare, and search and rescue operations.”
The Russian embassy in Washington had warned earlier that the size of the US-Ukrainian Sea Breeze exercises in the Black Sea increases the risk of unintended incidents there.
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“The scale and obviously aggressive nature of the military drills #SeaBreeze in no way match the real security needs in the Black Sea region. Increase risks of unintended incidents,” the Russian embassy tweeted.