Joint exercises of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Belarus and Russia opened with an operational video bridge

July 26, Orsha District / Diana Kurilo - BELTA/. Joint tactical special exercises of the Ministries of Emergency Situations of Belarus and Russia have opened with an operational video bridge, a BELTA correspondent reports. Modern communication facilities have connected crisis management and response centers in Moscow, Minsk, Smolensk, and settlements where man-made accidents occurred according to the exercise scenario, in real-time. As Vitaly Novitsky, press secretary of the Belarusian Ministry of Emergency Situations, noted in an interview with a BELTA correspondent, this is the first time the video bridge has simultaneously connected not only stationary control points but also field ones. The exercises on eliminating cross-border emergencies related to accidents at main oil and gas pipelines will be held in three stages at three training sites in the Smolensk and Vitebsk regions, with sequential training on notification, bringing management bodies, forces, and resources of the warning and liquidation of emergency situations systems of Russia and Belarus to readiness, assessing the situation in the emergency zone, making decisions on its elimination, managing forces and resources of the warning and liquidation of emergency situations systems, and interacting during emergency rescue operations of management bodies of the warning and liquidation of emergency situations systems of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus. According to the tactical plan of the exercises, due to ground subsidence at kilometer 253 in the underwater crossing section of the Unecha - Andreapol - Ust-Luga oil pipeline across the Dnieper River in the Smolensk region, near the village of Boroviki, the oil pipeline was damaged, causing an oil spill into the Dnieper River and its spread to the territory of Belarus along the river. This creates a threat of a man-made cross-border emergency. According to the operational scenario, the oil slick will reach the border of the settlement of Zubovo in the Orsha district of the Vitebsk region in three days. Simultaneously, during emergency work on the Unecha-Ventspils oil pipeline of JSC "Polotsktransneft Druzhba" near the village of Zubovo in the Orsha district, an oil fire occurred, spreading to the forest, creating a threat to settlements. The first stage, which will begin near the village of Boroviki in the Smolensk region, will involve training on notifying management bodies and forces according to the current interaction plan, bringing the management bodies and forces of the territorial subsystem of the Russian Emergency Management System to readiness, and making decisions on eliminating the consequences of the emergency. The second stage, starting near the village of Zubovo in the Orsha district, is intended to train management bodies on collecting and analyzing data about the situation, refining the decision to eliminate the man-made emergency, and managing forces and resources for extinguishing a forest fire threatening settlements. The third stage, which will take place in the vicinity of the settlement of Kopys in the Orsha district, will focus on practical training for management bodies in collecting and analyzing data about the situation, refining the decision to eliminate the emergency, and managing forces and resources for collecting oil from the water surface. During the elimination of the training emergency, environmental monitoring will be carried out. International observers will monitor the progress of the exercises. At the end of the exercises, a demonstration of equipment and emergency rescue equipment of the units of the Ministries of Emergency Situations of Belarus and Russia, economic entities, and emergency repair units will be held. -0-