Russia is holding naval and surface-to-air missile drills in the Black Sea region amid tensions with Ukraine and the West over the capture of three Ukrainian naval ships and their crews off the coast of Crimea last month.Two submarines, the Rostov-on-Don B-237 and the Stary Oskol B-262, practiced emergency deployments for detecting, accompanying and destroying sea and coastal targets with rocket fire, the Defence Ministry said.Submarine crews from the Black sea fleet were also due to practice deep dives and to work on techniques such as emergency surfacing, it said.The statement did not give a start or end date for the drills or say if the submarine exercises were part of larger-scale drills in the Black Sea and on the Crimean peninsula annexed by Russia in 2014. A navigation warning to shipping published by littoral state Turkey’s navy said that “firing exercises” were expected in the region from Dec. 3 to Dec. 9.Separately, Pantsir medium-range surface-to-air missile systems in the east of Crimea practiced detecting, identifying and shooting down aerial targets, Interfax news agency cited a spokesman for the Black Sea Fleet as saying.The exercises come at a time of heightened tensions between Russia and the West over Russia’s seizure… Read full this story
- Putin, Merkel Hold Talks In Sochi On Iran, Ukraine, Nord Stream 2
- Merkel arrives in Russia for talks with Putin about Iran, Ukraine and energy
- Putin to open mega bridge linking Crimea to Russia
- PM Narendra Modi arrives in Russia's Sochi to hold informal summit with Vladimir Putin
- US warns China over reported missile deployment in South China Sea
- Merkel and Putin offer signs of thawing tensions at Russian talks on Syria, Iran and Ukraine
- Putin to open massive bridge linking Crimea to Russia
- The Week In Russia: Crossing To Crimea, Stumbling On Sanctions
- Flight MH17: Netherlands and Australia say Russia is responsible for the shooting down of passenger plane
- Russian gas shipments via Ukraine may continue
Russia Holds Drills in Black Sea Region Amid Ukraine Tensions have 316 words, post on themoscowtimes.com at December 5, 2018. This is cached page on CuBird. If you want remove this page, please contact us.