Putin Endorses Permanent Russian Navy Presence in Mediterranean
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President Vladimir Putin endorsed a plan by the Russian navy to keep a permanent presence in the Mediterranean Sea, where the Syrian crisis is adding to the region’s instability.
Russia’s Mediterranean fleet of 16 ships will visit ports in Syria, which hosts the country’s only military base outside the former Soviet Union, during a mission that will include missile practise, commander Yuri Zemskoy told Putin via video link during a news conference in Moscow today.