Naval-aerial war games

Russia has launched the “active phase” of naval-aerial war games in the Northeast Atlantic in the biggest display of its military power since the breakup of the Soviet Union.

Eleven warships drawn from Russia’s Northern and Black Sea Fleets and backed up by dozens of aircraft began joint exercises in the Bay of Biscay off the west coast of France and the northern coast of Spain. This is the biggest exercise of its kind in the area since Soviet times. It is also for the first time that the Russian Navy has deployed a large presence outside of Russia’s immediate coastal regions since the end of the Cold War. The two-month tour of duty in the Mediterranean Sea and the North Atlantic is part of an effort to resume permanent presence in different areas of the world ocean, Russia’s Defence Minister Anatoly Serdyukov said. Last year Russia resumed regular global patrolling by its long-range nuclear bombers.
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