Russia conducts naval exercises in Mediterranean near Syria
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Russia's military says it has started exercises in the eastern Mediterranean near Syria to test the navy's ability to respond to "crisis situations of a terrorist nature."
The Defense Ministry statement says that in the exercises that began Monday a naval strike force will fire artillery and missiles in combat-like conditions.
The ministry says among the vessels taking part are two Buyan-M corvettes equipped with long-range cruise missiles of the type used to strike the Islamic State group in Syria last year.
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Since intervening in Syria's civil war in September, Russia has kept warships off Syria's coast, reviving a Soviet-era practice when Soviet warships maintained a permanent vigil in the Mediterranean. Russia's naval facility in the Syrian port of Tartus is now the only such facility outside the ex-Soviet Union.