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27Jul12
Russia Denies Warships to Stay in Mediterranean
A high-ranking source in the Russian Navy Command on Friday denied media reports that a flotilla of Russian warships will remain in the Mediterranean Sea on a permanent basis.
"It's too early to speak about the permanent presence of a naval flotilla in the Mediterranean… there's no need for it so far," the source said.
However, the source added that the Russian Black Sea Fleet, responsible for the Mediterranean Sea region, will send individual ships to the area.
Ten warships, together with escort vessels from Russia's Northern, Baltic and Black Sea Fleets, entered the Mediterranean Sea earlier this month. The ships are to convene in early August for joint exercises.
The announcement triggered media reports that the ships will operate in the area permanently on a rotational basis.
"The inter-fleet task force acts strictly according to the fleet command plans, laid down and approved in 2011. No changes have been introduced to the plan," the source said.
"As soon as the ships complete their tasks under the combat training plan, they will return to their bases of the Northern, Baltic and Black Sea fleets," he added.
The navy said earlier this month that the deployment was not linked to the current crisis in Syria, where thousands of people have been killed in an almost 17-month-long uprising against President Bashar al-Assad.
[Source: Reuters, Moscow, 27Jul12]
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