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he towns of Svetlogorsk and

Baltiysk in the Kaliningrad region

became the field for joint NATO-

Russia emergency relief exercises

that took place within the framework of the Partnership for Peace Program on June

22-25, 2004.

The exercises aimed at improving the

joint crisis response and management

mechanism including the international

relief request and delivery procedures

in response to a terrorist attack on an oil

platform in the Baltic Sea, followed by an

oil spill and a fire resulting in numerous

casualties and an ecological disaster in the

adjacent sea area.

Colonel-General Gennady Korotkin,

Deputy Minister for Emergency Situations

of the Russian Federation, and Carsten

Fousboll, NATO Civil Emergency Planning

Department Director, commanded the

exercises.

NATO was represented by theemergency rescue and firefighting units of

the Republic of Poland and the Lithuanian

Republic. The exercises were monitored by

observers from 22 near- and far-abroad

countries.

The Kaliningrad 2004 exercise

comprised three stages. During the first

stage that took place beforehand (from

June 18 to 22), the Russian participants

including the aviation of the Ministry for

Emergency Situations prepared for an

international emergency relief operation in

the Baltic Sea area. The preparatory stage

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T

PHOTO ESSAY

KALININGRAD 2004INTERNATIONALEXERCISESRafail Zakirov,Assistant Minister (Chief of Aviation), Ministry for Emergency Situations of the Russian Federation, Lieutenant-General


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comprised work on improving command

and control over the assets of the Ministry

for Emergency Situations and other

coordinating bodies, warning (advising) the

neighboring countries, NATO, and the UN

on the nature and scope of a terrorist

attack, requesting international assistance

through NATO and the UN, border

crossing and customs control procedures

for the international participants.

The second stage (June 22) focused on

the planning of an international emergency

relief operation in the Baltic Sea.

The third (practical) stage took place on

June 23 at the Baltic Fleets Khmelevka

range where the Vyshka-1 oil platform was

situated, and involved the participation

of Russian specialists together with their

Polish and Lithuanian partners. At this stage,

the newest airborne and maritime techniques

and technologies for S&R, fire-fighting, oil

spill liquidation, coastline anti-pollutionprotection and treatment were demonstrated.

On June 24-25, within the framework

of the command and staff exercise,

a NATO-led discussion on crisismanagement and international cooperation

in terrorist-caused maritime and land

emergencies took place.

The practical part of the Kaliningrad

2004 exercise (June 23) developed as

follows. According to the scenario, a group

of international terrorists seized an oil

platform and took hostage 70 specialists.

The negotiations failed, and it was decided

to take the platform by assault. Two Su-24

frontline bombers executed a false

maneuver over the platform while the

Special Forces units commenced the

hostage rescue operation. A group of

divers and special-purpose naval infantry

men rushed in, but the terrorists managed

to blow up the platform. As a result,

a number of hostages including those

wounded fell overboard, and a large

quantity of oil spilled into the sea. A fire

broke out on the platform.

The BK-117 S&R helicopter of the

Russian Ministry for Emergency Situationswas the first to arrive to the site with

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Colonel-General Gennady Korotkin

Mobile hospitalof the Ministry for Emergency Situations


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a reconnaissance mission. Its crew was

tasked to assess the nature of demolitions,the number of casualties and oil spill

spreading direction. Then it disembarked a

group of rescuers into the water. They

immediately started rendering aid to the

casualties the dummies scattered in

the sea. Simultaneously, many boats

headed for the disaster area to take aboard

the remaining casualties and to start the oil

spill liquidation works.

It was for the first time that the

Be-200ChS amphibian, a new aircraft in

the inventory of the Russian Ministry forEmergency Situations, was practically

employed for firefighting.

The Be-200ChS appeared over

the burning platform, made a turn and

water-landed right in front of the observers

stationed onboard a special-purpose ship

of the Baltic Fleet. An inflatable boat with the

rescuers was launched through the door.

Several minutes later, having taken in

the casualties and 12 tons of water into

built-in tanks, the Be-200ChS gathered

speed and swiftly took off the water before

the amazed spectators eyes.

In a matter of seconds the mission of

extinguishing the fire on the platform was

successfully accomplished. The 12-ton

water bomb released by the Be-200ChS

exactly into the fire epicenter liquidated

virtually all of it. Special ships of the LUKoil

company and the Russian Ministry

for Emergency Situations together with

a Ka-32 firefighting helicopter equipped

with a 5-ton VSU-5 fire-bucket had to

extinguish only some isolated fire

outbreaks on the platform.

In the meantime the rescue operation

went on. A Mi-8 launched an inflatable boat

with rescuers who picked up and delivered

the casualties ashore rendering them first

aid en route. Other casualties were

rescued from the sea by a Bo-105 helicopter.

A rescuer approached the casualties and

then hoisted them up by a winch.

Some of the wounded were attended

by another rescue team that had been

dropped by the Mi-8 right onto the burning

platform.

The numerous observers representing

the NATO and EAPC countries were

genuinely delighted by the professionalism

and cohesion of pilots of the Russian

Ministry for Emergency Situations.

Simultaneously, almost all oil harvesting

and sand beach decontamination devices

were deployed ashore. Booms were

launched at sea, and collector tanks for

surface treatment and oil storage were

prepared. A group of Polish and Russian

ships collected oil in the immediate vicinity of

the platform. The spill was pumped away

and run through special filters. The applied

technologies and devices (mostly the

Russian-produced ones) left no doubt that

the ecological disaster was neutralized.

At the final stage, a mobile hospital was

deployed right on the sea shore. The

hospital with all necessary equipment

and medicaments, as well as the medics

themselves had been parachuted from an

Il-76TD freighter.

Upon completion of the practical part

of the exercises, Sergei Shoigu, Head of the

Ministry for Emergency Situations, noted the

good coordination of all rescue services

involved and the high level of accomplishing

the most complicated tasks. He recalled that

the joint Russia-NATO exercises had

already been conducted earlier, in autumn

2002 in Noginsk, a town near Moscow, and

expressed hope that such exercises would

be conducted in future.

Rescuers from all countries are one

family, and they always support one

another. We have common goals and

missions, and I dont think we have any

discords. The main thing is to share

technologies, experience and all ourachievements with our colleagues, said the

Minister.

After summing up the results on June

25, the Kaliningrad 2004 exercise was

over.

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i-8 rescuing the victims

Boat with rescuerslaunched from the Be-200ChS

Oil harvesting

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