Russian and Belarusian scuba-diving special action forces take part in a joint exercise in Ryazan. These are elite military units; they're trained to fight under water. Their task is to find and eliminate enemy saboteurs, as well as underwater demining.
This is surely something to watch. Alexander Kotsuba reports.
To fulfill the task, they jump 10 meters down to the water.
We are at the Ryazan Higher Airborne Command School training facility. Here, Russian troopers are training together with their colleagues from the Special Forces of Belarus.
This facility imitates the side of a ship. The task of the divers is to dismantle a mine installed by the enemy. The diving depth is 6 meters.
The troopers of this team are getting ready for shooting underwater targets.
The school trains high-class specialists in scuba diving. The curriculum features explosives handling, rescue training, and engineering.
Alexander Grushka, Head of the Diving Department: "The first thing which we teach our students and military professionals is to fight their own fears. Only after that, they are able to fulfill tactic and combat tasks".
Troopers call this 50-meter pool "the bowl". It has several levels of various depths. The pool is equipped with towers and modern underwater equipment. This is a one-of-a-kind facility.
It's a unique training device which imitates free-drop water deployment. This is a real helicopter cabin section which is located 10 meters above the water surface. It's very important to handle the mask properly to splash down safely.
The main thing is not to panic while underwater.
Anton Lyapich: An untrained person exhausts an air tank in 20-25 minutes.
– Why?
– It's because they're nervous for the first dive.
The nerves are calmed by regular dive training. The more dives you have had, the calmer you are.
Anton Lyapich, diving expert, Belarus: Sharing experiences is important for both military specialists and states at large.
An experienced military scuba diver is proactive and ready to fulfill any task.
The joint exercise of Russian and Belarusian troopers continue at the pool of the Ryazan Higher Airborne Command School training facility.
Alexander Kotsuba, Farid Khananov, and Mikhail Utkin for Vesti.
