Three Russian warships sailed through Dardanelles Strait in Turkey on Monday morning, steaming their way toward the Mediterranean Sea, according to Xinhua.
The task force is said to be comprised of large landing ships Minsk, Olenegorskiy and Kaliningrad. The ships passed the Dardanelles Strait under the escort of a Turkish Coast Guard ship and are were heading from the Black Sea to the Marmara Sea.
Local Dogan News Agency (DHA) informed that the movement of Russian ships was triggered by shooting down of a Syrian war plane by Turkish military. Namely, on Sunday Turkey’s air force shot down a Syrian aircraft for violating its airspace. The Syrian plane crashed near Kasab, a town on the Syrian-Turkish border.
[mappress] Naval Today Staff, March 25, 2014; Image: Wikimapia