ATHENS, September 3. /TASS/. Russia holds military exercises in the Eastern Mediterranean in strict compliance with international law, the Russian embassy in Greece said in a comment published on its Facebook page.
"Russia regularly conducts military exercises in the Eastern Mediterranean and invariably does so in strict accordance with international law. Whenever a naval exercise is to be conducted, the World-Wide Navigational Warning Service (WWNWS) is notified and a bilateral procedure is used when an air exercise is due. This is a routine process used on all occasions. It remains unclear what the malicious commentators are worried about," the comment runs.
On Wednesday, the Turkish Navy’s Office of Navigation, Hydrography and Oceanography issued two Navtex notifications saying the Russian Navy would participate in an exercise with live firing practice in two different regions of the Mediterranean, including near the Greek continental shelf. Some Greek media speculated that in this way Russia took Turkey’s side in the sea shelf dispute with Greece. Russia has not formally confirmed its participation in the exercise.
On August 6, the foreign ministers of Greece and Egypt concluded an agreement on the demarcation of zones in the Mediterranean. The parliaments of both countries have ratified it. Athens says that the agreement with Egypt asserts the Greek islands’ right to the sea shelf and the exclusive economic zone. Ankara stated that it did not recognize that document and dispatched its research ship Oruc Reis and an escort of naval ships for seismic exploration of the Greek sea shelf near the island of Kastellorizo. In response Greece placed its armed forces on alert.