While the war in ukraine is in its sixth month, the government of Alberto Fernandez scheduled a military exercise in the South Atlantic with the participation of Russia. This is the Passex operation, a combined naval training exercise, in which several countries will take part.
The inclusion of Russia was confirmed THE NATION por the Secretary of International Affairs for Defense, Jose Francisco Cafiero who dismissed that in the current context of the war it can be carried out. “It’s a chance Exercise, that is included, as with 20 other countries, in case that opportunity eventually presents itself. But in the current scenario of war, the Argentine government has no interest in which it takes place”, explained the official.
In any case, the close associate of the defense minister, Jorge Taiana, will attend the Defense Commission of the Chamber of Deputies on Tuesday, which debe approve the authorization for the entry of foreign troops and the departure of Argentine troops abroad. This project includes the military exercises for the period September 2022/August 2023.
The chairman of the commission, Alberto Asseff (Together for Change) anticipated THE NATION that the opposition will oppose a possible military exercise with Russia, at a time when Vladimir Putin they maintain the invasion of Ukraine. The project, which has already passed the Senate filter without raising an alarm regarding possible cooperation with Russia, will be analyzed on Tuesday in the Defense Commission so that it can be debated the following week on the floor.
Cafiero insisted that the possibility of a military exercise with Russia was scheduled in August 2021, six months before the war broke out in Ukraine. And he insisted that if the opportunity for an exercise eventually arises, the Ministry of Defense will have no interest in planning a joint exercise with Russia, in order to be “coherent” with the government’s foreign policy.
The Passex Exercise, included as an “exercise of opportunity” in the period September 2022/August 2023, provides for the participation of vessels from Germany, the United States, China, Spain, Belgium, Italy, France, Ireland, Canada, Chile, South Africa, Brazil, Ecuador, Bolivia, Venezuela, Uruguay, Peru, India and the Russian Federation. The text of the project does not specify which countries will have an effective participation and which will act as “observers”, but sources close to the opposition indicated that the Russian delegation would have the latter character.
It is established, meanwhile, that the operations will be carried out in the Exclusive economic zone of Argentina.
A long list of countries is usually included in this type of forecast, but experience shows that most of those opportunities fall by the wayside and they are not specified. In the last two decades, for example, only Passex exercises have been carried out with Germany (1999), Spain (2002), Ireland (2006), France (2008 to 2010) and Brazil (2013, 2014, 2015 and 2017).
Aside from that, in the Senate it was not noticed that the inclusion of Russia might generate negative repercussions in the political and military sphere.
The cost of the operation of the Argentine naval means will amount to $325,000, according to the forecasts of the project, and contemplate, in the case of the local Navy, a crew of 415 troops, on board a destroyer, a Meko-140 corvette, an ocean patrol boat and a military helicopter.
The project sent to Congress explains that the Passex exercise constitutes “an exercise of opportunity, in which basic naval training activities when a foreign war unit makes a passage through the Argentine maritime coast during its transfer” in the Exclusive Economic Zone.
Foreign countries will have to participate with a surface unit that might have embarked aeronaval means.
The Passex operation is one of the 11 programmed exercises for the period 2022/2023, which have the objective of strengthening bilateral and multilateral cooperation with the Armed Forces of other countries. Of these, seven correspond to the Navy, two to the Air Force, one to the Army and one to the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the Armed Forces. Five are bilateral and six have multilateral participation.
In this sense, military exercises are planned with Bolivia, Venezuela, the United States, Brazil, France, Paraguay, Uruguay, Chile and South Africa, among other countries.
