Three ships leave Russian Navy task force in Mediterranean
MOSCOW. Aug 21 (Interfax-AVN) - The Russian Navy command has performed another scheduled rotation of its task force permanently deployed in the Mediterranean, a source in the Navy Staff told Interfax-AVN on Thursday.
"The Mirazh fast attack aircraft and the Cesar Kunikov and Azov landing ships of the Black Sea Fleet have passed Black Sea straits into the Black Sea," he said.
Landing ships attached to the Russian Navy task force in the Mediterranean regularly visit Russian Black Sea ports, among them Novorossiysk, to replenish their reserves.
The foreign media claimed that the Russian landing ships were engaged in what they called Operation Syrian Express aimed at delivering ammunition to the Syrian government forces fighting Islamist formations, including ISIL.
Black Sea Fleet Commander Admiral Alexander Vitko told the president on September 23, 2014, that military transport operations were being conducted from Novorossiysk to Crimea and Syria.
This year, this is at least the third voyage of the Cesar Kunikov to the Mediterranean Sea and the Azov has visited the Mediterranean four times.