Russian naval crews conduct drill off Syria coast
ST. PETERSBURG. Sept 10 (Interfax) - The Russian Navy's taskforce in the Mediterranean has conducted a drill to practice operations should hostilities begin off the coast of Syria, a spokesman for the Russian Navy's Main Staff told Interfax-AVN on Tuesday.
"The Russian naval crews, in groups and individually, have gone through an entire sequence of operations, covering communications and anti-aircraft and anti-submarine defense, in areas of deployment. Special emphasis was placed upon skills used to defend against underwater attack groups," he said.
The Russian warships will be a sufficiently far distance from potentially dangerous areas of conflict escalation, he said. "We are not going to sink anyone. No one assigned such a task to us," he said.
Reports earlier stated that the Russian tactical naval group in the Mediterranean includes the large landing ship Admiral Panteleyev, the patrol boat Neustrashimy, and the large landing ships Alexander Shabalin, Admiral Nevelskoy, Peresvet, Novocherkassk and Minsk. The medium reconnaissance ship SSV-21 Priazovye is following specific orders issued by the General Staff.
The Russian naval task force consists of four tactical groups deployed in the western and eastern Mediterranean.
