French La Fayette frigate replaces SNMG2 in Black Sea
MOSCOW. March 25 (Interfax-AVN) - The French La Fayette frigate has come to the Black Sea to replace Standing NATO Maritime Group Two (SNMG2) that left the area on Saturday, a source in the Russian Navy Staff told Interfax-AVN on Wednesday.
"The French La Fayette frigate crossed the straits and entered the Black Sea on Tuesday," he said.
Prior to that, the Black Sea was visited by SNMG2 comprising of the U.S. flagship USS Vicksburg (CG 69), Canada's HMCS Fredericton (FFH 337), Germany's FGS Spessart (A 1442), and Italy's ITS Aliseo (F 574).
The Montreux Convention limits the presence of ships of non-Black Sea littoral countries in the Black Sea waters to 21 days. Navy ships of U.S. and other NATO countries have been present in the Black Sea almost constantly since the beginning of crisis in eastern Ukraine.
In turn, the Black Sea Fleet Nikolai Filchenkov landing ship crossed Black Sea straits on Tuesday. "It joined the Russian Navy task force permanently deployed in the Mediterranean," the source said.
