Monday, March 16, 2015

Latvia edgy over reprts 2 Russian 'black hole' subs and ship on edge of territorial waters


Reuters/March 16

A Russian kilo-class submarine (Reuters)
A Russian kilo-class submarine (Reuters)

The Latvian armed forces claim they have detected two Russian Kilo-class submarines and a research vessel 27 and 30 nautical miles outside the country’s territorial waters, three days after a sighting of a Russian destroyer was reported off its coast.
The Kilo-class vessels, to use their NATO classification, have been deployed by the Soviet, and then the Russian navy since the early 1980s. Nimble and quiet, they have traditionally been named “black holes” for their stealth capabilities.
While moving in Latvia’s exclusive economic zone, but not its territorial waters, does not contravene international regulations, the authorities in the Baltic state have expressed alarm at increasingly frequent muscle-flexing displays on its borders.

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