Arctic Coast Guard Forum member countries to hold drills in the Denmark Strait
© RIA Novosti. Aleksey Filippov

Arctic Coast Guard Forum member countries to hold drills in the Denmark Strait

The Arctic Coast Guard Forum member countries will conduct full-scale search and rescue drills in the Denmark Strait between Greenland and Iceland in early September, chief of the press service of the US Coast Guard Lieutenant Commander Dave French said in an interview with TASS.

"The forthcoming full-scale naval drills are scheduled for September 4-8 in the Denmark Strait, near Reykjavik in Iceland," he said.

Eight Arctic Council member states: Denmark, Iceland, Canada, Norway, Russia, the United States, Finland and Sweden are taking part in the forum.

"The US Coast Guard will send one of our patrol boats to participate in these drills," French said.

In June last year, a joint statement was adopted at the forum aimed at developing a multi-year strategic cooperation plan.

In the US, the Coast Guard is an independent branch of the Armed Forces along with land forces, the Air Force, the Navy and the Marine Corps.