MOSCOW, August 22. /TASS/. A naval group of Russia’s Northern Fleet has crossed the Strait of Gibraltar and entered the Mediterranean Sea as part of its deployment in distant waters, the Fleet’s press office reported on Thursday.

"A group of the Northern Fleet’s ships and support vessels led by the missile cruiser Marshal Ustinov has entered the Mediterranean Sea through the Strait of Gibraltar," the press office said in a statement.

The Russian sailors will make business calls at foreign ports and conduct various drills, including naval exercises for inter-operability with the warships of other Fleets within the Russian Navy.

The missile cruiser Marshal Ustinov will soon replenish fuel supplies from the medium oceanic tanker Vyazma. The sailors will also hold anti-submarine warfare and anti-subversion drills for the defense of a group of warships during anchorage in an unsafe roadstead.

The missile cruiser Marshal Ustinov left the home base of Severomorsk on July 3. Over this period, the warship’s crew took part in Russia’s Main Naval Parade in St. Petersburg on July 28 and in the Russian Navy’s Ocean Shield 2019 large-scale drills.