A naval exercise of the group formed by the Moskva guided missile cruiser, the Smetlivi destroyer, the Saratov landing ship and several support ships, according to the press service of the portfolio by the Russian defense system, is scheduled for this period.
According to the plan, the maneuvers will involve "40 combat exercises, including rocket and artillery fire", added the source.
The note recalls that after a long pause, the Russian Navy resumed its naval exercises in the eastern Mediterranean in 2013, when an invasion by the United States against Damascus to overthrow the constitutional president Bashar al-Assad seemed inevitable.
The text highlights that Moscow notified other countries of these war games in advance, in compliance with international standards of maritime law.
The Navy reported ahead that the patrol ship Smetlivi sailed from Sevastopol, Crimea, towards the Ionian Islands for an official visit, and afterwards will join the fleet mobilized in the Mediterranean.
The Kremlin began to reform its Mediterranean task force at a time of great tension in March 2013, when the West threatened Damascus with an invasion under the pretext of an alleged use of chemical weapons against the population.
Moscow then sent to the area a group of ships of its Pacific Fleet and has reinforced it uninterruptedly since then with units from the Pacific, the Northern Sea, the Black Sea and the Baltic, in a rotation.
The supply and repair of Russian naval forces mobilized in the Mediterranean depend mainly on the naval base in Tartus, Syria.
The confirmation of these maneuvers coincided with a news story of the American Bloomberg agency, which informs that Russia could launch strikes on positions of the ISIL in Syria without coordinating them with the US-led coalition, if it refuses to agree on conducting operations with Moscow, Tehran and Damascus.
According to Bloomberg, cooperation in the war on the ISIL will center a meeting between the presidents of Russia and the United States, scheduled for next September 28th, on the sidelines of the 70th session of the UN General Assembly in New York.
Elena Suponina, Middle East expert of the Russian Institute for Strategic Studies, said, cited by the Kommersant newspaper, that the Kremlin hopes that "common sense wins, and Barack Obama accepts the proposal of Vladimir Putin."
However, the researcher said, Putin will act anyway, even if that does not happen.
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PL-17/MNA
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