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Russia deploys new cruise-missile navy frigate to the Mediterranean Sea

Russia revealed that it has deployed its new navy frigate with long-range Kalibr cruise-missiles to the Mediterranean Sea, a few months after Moscow had reinforced its naval forces off the Syrian coast. According to a statement by the Russian Defense Ministry, “The vessel will be acting in the standing naval force of the Russian fleet in the Mediterranean,” increasing Moscow’s fire-power in the area ‘significantly’. The Ministry did not say whether the frigate was supposed to take part in the military operation in Syria where Moscow has backed President Bashar al-Assad since entering the war in 2015. Nevertheless, it fulfills a statement by Russian President Vladimir Putin, who said in May that Russian military vessels with Kalibr cruise missiles would be on permanent standby in the Mediterranean sea to counter, what Putin referred to as ‘the terror threats in Syria’.