Russia Stages Naval Drills in Black Sea
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - Russian military forces staged a navy exercise off the coast of the city of Sevastopol in the Black Sea Crimean peninsula to thwart any possible aggression by the West, media reports said on Monday.
"Today and tomorrow ships... will practice the organization of repelling strikes by the enemy from the air in the Black Sea fleet's naval range near the Crimean coast," fleet spokesman Nikolai Voskresensky was quoted by Russian news agencies as saying.
Russian navy’s guided missile hovercraft, Samum, as well as several smaller ships, in addition to Su-24 bombers, will take part in drills for preparing Russian navy forces to "repel strikes" on Crimea, he said.
The spokesman added that the naval exercise will be wrapped up by launching a cruise missile strike.
Russia military forces were deployed in military bases across Crimea after the region separated from Ukraine in March last year and re-joined Moscow in a referendum, Press TV reported.
The Ukrainian crisis last year and Crimea’s reunion with Russia has plunged Kremlin’s relations with the West to their lowest point since the Cold War.
This as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) forces have escalated their military maneuvers along the Russian border, in the Baltic States and Eastern Europe.
Russia and the West are also at loggerheads over the conflict in Syria.