The corvette Sovershenniy, together with a task group of the People’s Liberation Army’s Navy, which includes the destroyer Yinchuan, the frigate Hengshui and the replenishment ship Weishanhu, held an exercise of an inspection of “a suspicious ship” during a joint mission naval patrol, the statement said.

During the drill, Chinese and Russian groups inspected the Hengshui frigate, which served as the said suspicious ship, discovered “weapons” on board and “detained” its captain.

The sailors had air support from helicopters embarked on the destroyer Yinchuan and the corvette Sovershenniy.

China and Russia began the practice of joint naval patrols in 2021.

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