Russia, U.S. plan joint naval exercise in September

Above: A Marine amphibious assault vehicle from Camp Schwab, Okinawa approaches the USS Juneau last month. Juneau serves under Task Force 76, the Navy's permanently forward-deployed amphibious force operating from Sasebo, Japan.

MOSCOW — Russia and the U.S. will hold joint naval anti-terrorism exercises in the Sea of Japan in September, a U.S. diplomat said Tuesday.

The drills, called Pacific Eagle, will be the two countries’ biggest joint exercise since 1998, said John Mark Pommersheim, U.S. consul general in Vladivostok, according to the Interfax news agency...

Last month, the lower house of Russia’s parliament endorsed a key treaty on joint military exercises with NATO members which streamlines the organization of drills and defines the status of foreign troops during training. The document must now be approved by the parliament’s upper chamber.

Moscow’s failure to commit to the treaty has in the past led to several cancellations of the drills, including last fall, when it pulled out of exercises with the U.S. in the Russian city of Nizhny Novgorod.

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