Posted on 05/08/2014 12:53:39 PM PDT by MeshugeMikey
A Russian aircraft carrier task group has sailed into the English Channel under escort by a Royal Navy warship. HMS Dragon met the Russian warships in the south western approaches to the Channel on Wednesday and is shadowing them as they are expected to head into the North Sea and back to Russia. The heavy carrier Admiral Kuznetsov is accompanied by the nuclear-powered Kirov class cruiser Peter the Great and several support ships after a five-month mission to the Mediterranean.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
A loose WWI or WWII mine could create quite a
problem...
Making no apologies for Putin’s actions in the Ukraine, but the Crimea was taken by Imperial Russia from the Turks in the 1850’s. It was part of Russia-proper until Khrushchev decided it was good politics to ‘offer’ the region to the Ukraine SSR (then a part of the Soviet Union).
So the Crimea was directly a part of Russia for 100 years and for all of that time was host to some important naval installations.
Even after the Ukraine ‘broke-away’ from Russia they shared a naval base near Sevastopol. So in a sense the Russians have had a “warm-water port” for 160 years.
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