UKRAINE/RUSSIA: Russia's President Vladimir Putin orders large-scale military exercises in Black Sea

Record ID: 862384

  • Title: UKRAINE/RUSSIA: Russia's President Vladimir Putin orders large-scale military exercises in Black Sea
  • Date: 28th March 2013
  • Summary: SEVASTOPOL, UKRAINE (MARCH 28, 2013) (REUTERS) SHIPS ANCHORED IN HARBOR MAN ON SHIP RUSSIAN NAVY FLAG ON SHIP SHIP IN HARBOR MEN IN UNIFORM ON SHIP VARIOUS OF SHIPS DINGHY IN WATER MEN IN UNIFORM BOARDING SHIP VARIOUS OF SHIP VARIOUS OF SOLDIERS AT CHECKPOINT VARIOUS OF SOLDIERS LOADING TRUCK WITH BAGS VARIOUS OF TRUCK ON ROAD WITH SOLDIERS WALKING BEHIND SOLDIERS RUNNING ON ROAD TRUCK ON ROAD
  • Embargoed: 12th April 2013 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Ukraine, Russian Federation
  • City:
  • Country: Russian Federation Ukraine
  • Topics: Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA9SVLP97MVPCCQ4BDSCFY2SEWL
  • Aspect Ratio:
  • Story Text: A part of Russia's naval fleet and army stationed at the military base in the Ukrainian city of Sevastopol on the Crimea peninsula were seen on Thursday (March 28) preparing for an unannounced military drill.
    President Vladimir Putin ordered the launch of large-scale Russian military exercises in the Black Sea region on Thursday, his spokesman said, in a move that may create tensions with Russia's post-Soviet neighbours Ukraine and Georgia.
    Putin issued the order to start the previously unannounced manoeuvres at 4 a.m. Moscow time (0000 midnight GMT) as he flew back from an international summit in South Africa, his spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, told reporters by telephone.
    Peskov added that 36 warships and an unspecified number of warplanes would take part.
    He did not say how long the exercises would last.
    Putin has stressed the importance of a strong and agile military since he returned to the presidency last May after four years as prime minister. In 13 years in power, he has often cited external threats when talking of the need for unity in Russia.
    Russia's Black Sea fleet, whose main base is in the Ukrainian port of Sevastopol, was instrumental in a war with Georgia in 2008 over the Russian-backed breakaway Georgian regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
    Disputes with Kiev over Moscow's continued lease of the Black Sea navy base have been a thorn in relations with its former Soviet neighbour.
    Peskov said that Russia is under no obligation to warn neighbours ahead of time of plans to hold the air and sea military exercises as long as fewer than 7,000 servicemen participated in the manoeuvres.
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