Defense Ministry: Crashed Tu-154 plane flown by experienced pilot

The Tu-154 plane that crashed off the Black Sea coast near Sochi on Sunday was manufactured more than 30 years ago and was last time repaired in December 2014, and was flown by an experienced pilot, Russia’s Defense Ministry said.

Turkey issues warning to Russia over Bosphorus incident

The Turkish Foreign Ministry on Monday received explanations from Russian Ambassador to Turkey Andrey Karlov over an incident involving a Russian sailor who allegedly held a man-portable air defense system on his shoulder when his warship was sailing through the Bosphorus, a diplomatic source said.

Record number of NATO warships staying in Black Sea since Soviet times.(The Montreux Convention)

There are nine NATO warships in the Black Sea now, a record high number in decades, the RIA Novosti news agency reports citing a military-diplomatic source.

These include the US Vella Gulf Aegis-guided missile cruiser, the French Surcouf frigate and two reconnaissance ships – France’s Dupuy de Lome and Italy’s Elettra.

In addition, there’s a group of NATO minesweepers taking part in the Breeze-2014 naval exercises off the Bulgarian coast. Led by Italy’s ITS Aviere, it also comprises an Italian and Turkish minesweepers, ITS Rimini and TCG Akcay, and the Chiddingfold anti-mine ship of the British Royal navy.

Dolphin wars in the Black Sea? - In recent years, U.S. Navy dolphins have been deployed to Iraq and Bahrain to patrol for enemy divers

The United States Navy has deployed military-trained dolphins to protect one of its warships in the Black Sea amid rising tensions with Russia over Ukraine, the Russian daily Izvestia reported.

A Russian fighter jet made multiple close-range passes near the USS Donald Cook, a Navy destroyer, on April 12, two days after it entered the Black Sea, passing the Turkish straits. As the crisis in Ukraine deepened, U.S. ship commanders considered the Russian action provocative and inconsistent with international agreements, prompting the ship to issue several radio queries and warnings.

Russian Navy to hold biggest war games in decades

The four major Russian Navy fleets will hold a joint exercise in late January in the Mediterranean and Black seas. It will be the biggest such event in decades.
­Commands for the Northern, Baltic, Black Sea and Pacific fleets have been preparing for the exercises since December of last year, the Russian Defense Ministry has announced. Warships detached for the event are currently sailing to those regions.