The Russian Army and Navy will deploy additional forces and modern weapons to its southwest in reply to NATO’s plans to boost its presence in the Black Sea region, a Russian newspaper reported quoting Defense Ministry sources. …

Chief spokesman of the Black Sea Fleet, Captain Vyacheslav Trukhachov, told reporters that over 15 new Russian combat ships arrived to the Black Sea in 2015 alone. Of these, two missile carriers and two submarines are equipped with the most modern cruise missiles Kalibr-NK with the effective range of up to 3,000km that have recently proved their effectiveness in strikes on terrorists’ positions in Syria.

The press service of Russia’s Southern Military District added that the units deployed in the Northern Caucasus and Rostov Region are equipped with combat aircraft capable of controlling the whole territory of the Black Sea. In addition, the district possesses two brigades of Iskander-M ballistic missiles that have effective range of 500km and can penetrate any of the existing missile defense systems, the press service added.

Image: Russian Missile Hovercraft Bora (photo: Russian Ministry of Defense)