MOSCOW, May 31. /TASS/. Late on Monday, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu briefed President Vladimir Putin about the successful Kalibr missile attack on the facilities of the Islamic State terror group (outlawed in Russia) in Syria, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
"Shoigu reported to Putin about the successful launches of the Kalibr missiles, fired at the IS facilities in Syria," he said.
According to the Russian Defense Ministry, "the Admiral Essen frigate and the Krasnodar submarine currently deployed to the eastern section of the Mediterranean Sea, fired four Kalibr missiles at the IS facilities near Palmyra." ". All targets have been hit," the ministry said adding that the submarine had fired missiles from underwater.
The attack targeted terrorist shelters east of Palmyra, where militants armed with heavy weapons had moved from Raqqa, the Defense Ministry noted.
The Russian Defense Ministry pointed out that "the US, Turkish and Israeli military authorities were timely informed about cruise missile attacks, the current communications channels were used."
The Krasnodar is a project 636.6 diesel-electric submarine which was initially included in the Baltic Fleet but it has recently been moved to the Black Sea Fleet and is expected to arrive at its new home base in June. Until recently, the Krasnodar submarine only conducted missile firing exercises in the Baltic Sea area, so this is the first time that it participated in a combat operation. In late 2015, Russia’s Rostov-na-Dony submarine fired Kalibr cruise missiles at the Islamic State’s facilities in Syria.
The Admiral Essen’s missiles were also used in a combat situation for the first time.