Russia planning military drills in the Mediterranean

PanARMENIAN.Net - The Russian defense ministry says a guided missile cruiser will be involved in drills in the eastern Mediterranean — which could be near the Syrian coast, the Associated Press reports.

Russia recently has ferried weapons, troops and supplies to an airport near the Syrian coastal city of Latakia in what the U.S. sees as preparations for setting up an air base there.

The defense ministry on Thursday, September 24, announced drills "in the eastern section of the Mediterranean" later this month and in October involving a guided missile cruiser, a guided missile destroyer, a landing ship and other ships. The ministry said Russia always holds an array of military drills at this time of the year and that the government approved the Mediterranean maneuvers a year ago.

The Moskva guided missile cruiser left the Russia-occupied port of Sevastopol in Crimea earlier on Thursday and went to the Bosphorus, the ministry said without specifying the destination.

In Moscow, presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov blasted foreign media for the hype over Russia's presence in Syria, saying that a recent report that Moscow could be preparing for a unilateral strike on the Islamic State group in Syria is "speculation that has nothing to do with reality."

Peskov also said he had no knowledge of any plans for President Vladimir Putin to ask the Russian parliament to give the green light for sending Russian troops to Syria.