Russian Navy Conducts Joint Exercise with Chinese North Sea Fleet
Russian Pacific Fleet ships led by the missile cruiser RFS Varyag have commenced the at-sea phase of Exercise Joint Sea 2026 with the PLA Navy (PLAN) off Qingdao, headquarters of the PLAN’s North Sea Fleet.
The exercise started with the customary football matches and exchange visits between crews of the participating ships, and pre-exercise planning conferences, before moving on July 9 to the sea phase, in which the PLAN announced that joint reconnaissance, air defense, anti-missile defense, and coordinated submarine search and rescue operations would be exercised.
The Russian visitors were led by the flagship of Russia’s Pacific Fleet, the GT11,000 Slava Class missile cruiser RFS Varyag (D11). The RFS Varyag was launched in 1983, and although heavily armed and with a 500-strong crew, it is somewhat outdated. In addition to a twin 130 mm/L70 gun forward, the ship is equipped with 16 SS-N-12 Sandbox anti-ship missile tubes and a magazine of 64 SA-N-6 Grumble long-range surface-to-air missiles, plus a Ka-27 anti-submarine warfare helicopter. The Varyag was accompanied by the Steregushchiy Class corvette RFS Rezky (F343), Kilo-II Class submarine RFS Ufa (B588), and the Delfin Class specialist submarine rescue ship Igor Belousov, which has been a regular visitor to Qingdao, last year and in the past. As well as being equipped for rescue operations, the Russians and Chinese may have a joint interest in the ability of the civilian-manned Igor Belousov to support deep diving operations, such as are necessary to support GUGI-linked covert intelligence operations related to pipelines, cables, and passive sensor networks.
Russian naval forces taking part in the "Joint Sea-2026" exercise with China arrived at the military port in Qingdao, Shandong Province, on Sunday, where they rendezvoused with their Chinese counterparts.
— CGTN (@CGTNOfficial) July 5, 2026
Participating forces from both navies are now assembled for the drills. pic.twitter.com/vs7DrqL2sC
Russian and Chinese participants in Exercise Joint Sea 2026, alongside in Qingdao July 6 (Chinese state media)
The Chinese North Sea Fleet flotilla participating in the exercise was led by the Type 052DL destroyer PLANS Kaifeng (D124), supported by the Type 055 destroyers PLANS Anshan (D103), the Type 054A frigate PLANS Wuhu (F539), a Yuan Class diesel-electric submarine, the Type 903A replenishment ship supply ship PLANS Kekexilihu (K903) and the PLAN’s own submarine rescue vessel PLANS Yanchenghu (A847).
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For the Russian Navy, this is an important exercise, a now rare opportunity to exercise with a first-ranked naval force, and without fear that proceedings might be interrupted by the Ukrainian long-range sanctions program.
If the pattern of previous exercises in the Joint Sea annual series is followed, the combined Chinese-Russian flotilla will embark on an extended-range patrol, likely to be in the North Sea Fleet’s designated operational area in the Pacific east of Japan. The deployment is likely to overlap with that of the US Pacific Fleet, which will be mounting RIMPAC 2026 from Hawaii at about the same time
