In the northern part of the Caspian Sea on September 28, 2020, an international comprehensive drills "Caspian-2020" to eliminate the consequences of marine accidents and oil spills of regional significance were held.

During the drills, the actions of forces and means, control bodies were practiced in assisting people, vessels and aircraft in distress in the Caspian Sea, in the elimination of the consequences of marine accidents and related oil and oil products spills, as well as an assessment of the level of preparedness of emergency personnel, rescue teams and their control bodies in the elimination of the consequences of marine accidents.

The coordination of the drills to provide assistance to people, vessels and aircraft in distress in the Caspian Sea was carried out by the marine rescue coordination center “Astrakhan” of FSBI “The Administration of the Caspian Seaports”, and the drills to eliminate the consequences of marine accidents and related oil and oil products spills were carried out by the Caspian Branch of the FSBI "Marine Rescue Service ".

From the FSUE “Rosmorport” Astrakhan branch, the Kapitan Chechkin icebreaker and its crew were involved in the drills, which was used as a command and staff vessel.

In addition to representatives of the FSUE "Rosmorport" Astrakhan branch, employees of the Caspian Flotilla of the Navy of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, the Border Directorate of the FSB of Russia for the Republic of Kalmykia and the Astrakhan Region, the Southern Directorate of Rosaeronavigatsia, the Astrakhan branch of the RSBS FSI "Southern Aviation Search Rescue Center”, representatives of other departments and companies took part in the drills. During the drills, 33 different vessels were involved.

According to the legend of the drills to help people in distress in the Caspian Sea, a distress signal came from a vessel. Search vessels and a helicopter moved out into the area of the incident. After finding the life raft and the lifeboat, the search vessels proceeded to evacuate the crew members of the conditionally sunken ship in distress. After being successfully lifted on board, they were delivered to the island Iskustvenniy of the Volga-Caspian shipping channel.

At the second stage of the drills, according to the legend, engine oil and fuel began to flow from the sinking vessel and appeared on the surface in the area of the incident. Specialized vessels for the elimination of emergency oil and oil products spills that arrived at the scene, taking into account weather conditions (wind directions and sea currents), promptly built a localizing order for booms and activated oil-gathering systems, with the help of which the oil-water emulsion was collected into vessel’s temporary storage tanks.

Based on the results of the drills, all the assigned tasks were successfully completed, and the emergency rescue units of all the participants in the drills showed their preparedness and coherence in performing rescue operations and eliminating the consequences of marine accidents.