Russia detects two missiles in the Mediterranean: an Israeli-American exercise
Published on Tuesday, September 3, 2013
8:02 PM //
Defence
Russia has detected Tuesday morning the launch of two ballistic missiles in the Mediterranean, which fell in the sea, shots made under an Israeli-American exercise, according to the Israeli Ministry of Defense.
"The launch, which took place in Moscow 10:16 (6:16 GMT), was detected by radar stations in Armavir" (southern Russia), said the Ministry of Defence said in a statement quoted by Russian news agencies.
"The Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu told Russian President Vladimir Putin, commander in chief," said the Ministry of Defence.
The rockets were launched "in the central part of the Mediterranean to the east coast," the ministry said without elaborating.
A little later, the Israeli Ministry of Defense announced that it had conducted "successfully" in the morning a missile radar as part of a US-Israeli military exercise.
"The Department of Defense and the MDA (Missile Defense Agency) U.S. launched Tuesday morning at 9:15 a missile radar type Ankor," the ministry said in a statement.
According to a Russian military-diplomatic source quoted by the Interfax agency, it could be shooting to "refine meteorological records."
"It is possible that the destroyers of the 6th Fleet of the U.S. Navy have fired blanks or lures to test the efficiency of the Syrian missile defense," said a source in Moscow quoted by the Interfax news agency.
These shots could be designed to "intimidate the Syrian people and disrupt the international community", the source said.
"There were in fact two launches, they fell into the sea", for his part, said a Syrian official source quoted by the Russian government agency Ria Novosti.
Russia also announced Tuesday it had sent another warship to the Mediterranean.
"The landing ship Novocherkassk left Tuesday morning Novorossiysk port (Black Sea) and took the direction of the Bosphorus," said an official in the Russian General Staff.
A Russian military-diplomatic source announced the day before that Russia had sent a ship reconnaissance and electronic surveillance to the Syrian coast in the eastern Mediterranean.
The Staff of the Russian armed forces said last week that a group of ships already in the Mediterranean, conducting uninterrupted observations and analyzes of military activities around Syria.
Russia maintains a constant presence in the eastern Mediterranean, where several of its military vessels relay since the beginning of the Syrian crisis two and a half years ago.
Mainstay of the regime in Damascus which it delivers weapons, Russia since the Soviet period operates a military supply base in the port of Tartus, 220 km northwest of Damascus.
Following an attack with chemical weapons in the suburbs of Damascus on August 21, given by the Americans to the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, President Barack Obama has asked Congress to approve the principle of strikes Air Syria.Russia categorically opposes.
