Russian military exercises

Russia Launches Surprise Large-Scale, 36 Warship Military Exercise In The Black Sea

Zero Hedge,

27 March, 2013

Many were wondering what Russia's response to Germany's deposit confiscation drill in Cyprus would be. The confusion was moderated somewhat after it was uncovered that the very Russians who were supposed to be punished, have been able to withdraw some or most of their Cyprus-based cash either before the Cyprus D(eposit Confiscation)-Day or during the capital controlled blackout using various disclosed loopholes. Yet that doesn't mean that Putin would avoid this opportunity to give the "developed world" and his closest neighbors a quick lesson in realpolitik. After all, who better than a former KGB agent understands that one should never let a crisis go to waste. Sure enough, today at 4 am, in a very surprising move, Puitin ordered the launch of large-scale Russian military exercises in the Black Sea region in a move which according to Reuters "may create tensions with Russia's post-Soviet neighbors Ukraine and Georgia." Of course, it may create tensions with our island nations reachable by the Russian naval fleet, such as Cyprus, which would naturally mean tensions with the same European (read German) forces who structured the entire Cypriot bail in.

From Reuters:

Putin issued the order to start the previously unannounced maneuvers at 4 a.m. Moscow time (12.00 a.m. EDT) as he flew back from an international summit in South Africa, his spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, told reporters by telephone.

"These are large-scale unannounced test exercises," Peskov said, adding that 36 warships and an unspecified number of warplanes would take part. "The main goal is to check the readiness and cohesion of the various units."

He did not say how long the exercises would last.

Putin has stressed the importance of a strong and agile military since he returned to the presidency last May after four years as prime minister. In 13 years in power, he has often cited external threats when talking of the need for unity in Russia.

Russia's Black Sea fleet, whose main base is in the Ukrainian port of Sevastopol, was instrumental in a war with Georgia in 2008 over the Russian-backed breakaway Georgian regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

Disputes with Kiev over Moscow's continued lease of the Black Sea navy base have been a thorn in relations with its former Soviet neighbor.

Peskov said that Russia is under no obligation to warn neighbors ahead of time of plans to hold the air and sea military exercises as long as fewer than 7,000 servicemen participated in the maneuvers.

And while the proposed explanation may be valid, something tells us that in this specific case it was not the Ukraine or Georgia that were being contemplated, but the island nations in the Mediterranean, or rather nation, especially the one located in close proximity to Syria.

Keep a close eye on if and when news hits that some 36 Russian warships quietly passed through the Bosphorus in direction Nicosia. Perhaps if Cyprus was so quick to hand over its Russian economic interest, all that would be needed to make it flip on its dedication to the Eurozone would be a brief but insistent naval semi-blockade. After all, few things are quite as persuasive as 36 warships sitting idly by doing not much of anything.