Russian ships heading for Mediterranean
Russia said Wednesday that it would start its first major naval operation in the Mediterranean Sea since Soviet times, the latest move by an increasingly assertive Moscow to demonstrate its military might.
“The aim of the sorties is to ensure a naval presence in tactically important regions of the world ocean,” Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov told President Vladimir V. Putin, who wished the sailors well. The rest of the meeting was closed.
Serdyukov said an aircraft carrier and 10 other ships would take part, backed up by 47 aircraft, including strategic bombers.
Serdyukov said the navy’s flagship aircraft carrier, the Adm. Kuznetsov, and anti-submarine ships sailed Wednesday for the Mediterranean from the Northern Fleet’s base in Severomorsk, in the Arctic Circle.
Black Sea fleet ships and aircraft are to meet them in the Mediterranean. He said that military exercises would be conducted and that the group would visit six countries, which he did not name.
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