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Russia to Hold Naval Exercise in Mediterranean Amid Tensions

Russia Will Hold Naval Exercise in Mediterranean, Turkey Says

Russia will hold two naval exercises in the eastern Mediterranean beginning next week, according to Turkey’s navy, a move that could fuel escalating frictions in the energy-rich region.

Russian warships will conduct firing exercises between Sept. 8-22 and Sept. 17-25, a Turkish navy website said late Wednesday. It urged Moscow not to interfere with seismic studies by Turkish survey ships south of the Greek island of Kastellorizo and off Cyprus’s Karpas peninsula.

Russian Navy spokesman Igor Dygalo didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. Igor Korotchenko, head of the Centre for Analysis of World Arms Trade in Moscow, said the exercises were a show of force by Russia against NATO and not an effort to back Turkey.

“We do have strong economic and defense ties with Turkey but our policy is to avoid backing either side in this dispute,” he said by phone. “Turkey is quite capable of looking after its own interests.”

Turkey and NATO are also at loggerheads, over Ankara’s purchase of Russian S-400 missile defenses. It’s also at odds with the European Union over its territorial disputes with bloc members Greece and Cyprus. EU power France recently increased its military presence in the area to prop those countries up.

“There are those who come from thousands of kilometers and try to bully, claim rights and play the role of guardian angel,” Turkey’s Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said in a Twitter post on Thursday, in an apparent reference to France. “It is not possible to accept these, they will go back as they come.”

Turkish energy exploration in the eastern Mediterranean has stoked tensions with Greece and Cyprus that are rooted in conflicting interpretations of maritime boundaries, and the feud between Turkey and Cyprus over gas reserves around the island, whose northern third is controlled by Turkish forces.

New strains were kindled this week when the U.S. eased a decades-old arms embargo on Cyprus. Turkey condemned the move and urged Washington to reverse course, saying it would otherwise take “reciprocal steps” to safeguard Turkish-speaking Cypriots.

Russia to Hold Naval Exercise in Mediterranean Amid Tensions

Turkish forces captured the northern third of Cyprus in 1974, following a coup attempt in which a military junta in Athens sought to unite Cyprus with Greece. The Republic of Cyprus officially has sovereignty over the entire island, though it in effect remains divided.

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.