Turkey, Russia hold joint naval drill in Black Sea

Naval forces of Turkey and Russia held a joint maneuver in the Black Sea, the Russian defence ministry said. 

Russian patrol ship "Vasily Bykov" and sea trawler "Valentin Pikul", and Turkish navy corvette "Burgazada" and minesweeper "Akcay" took part in the drill conducted near the port of Novorossiysk, the ministry said in a statement.

The statement said the two countries' forces worked together to simulate safe navigation of vessels out of a naval minefield.

The drill was part of Turkey's national naval war games called Blue Motherland-2019.

The Blue Homeland 2019 is Turkey's largest navy drill in its history, that involved 103 vessels in all three seas surrounding the country, military sources say.