Russia Launches Mediterranean Drills Amid Rift With Britain

The Russian military on Friday launched sweeping maneuvers in the Mediterranean Sea featuring warplanes capable of carrying hypersonic missiles.

The latest comes as a certain show of force amid a surge in tensions following an incident with a British destroyer in the Black Sea.

The Russian drills that began Friday in the eastern Mediterranean come as a British carrier strike group is in the area.

Earlier this week, British and U.S. F-35 fighters from HMS Queen Elizabeth flew combat sorties against the Islamic State group.

Moscow said one of its warships fired warning shots and a warplane dropped bombs in the path of British destroyer Defender on Wednesday to force her out of an area near Crimea that Russia claims as its territorial waters.

Britain denied that account, insisted its ship wasn’t fired upon and said she was sailing in Ukrainian waters.

Russia has waged a military campaign in Syria since September 2015, allowing Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government to reclaim control over most of the country after a devastating civil war.

The Russian Defense Ministry said that a pair of MiG-31 fighter jets capable of carrying Kinzhal hypersonic missiles arrived at the Russian airbase in Syria and flew missions practicing strikes on targets in the Mediterranean.

The Defense Ministry said the maneuvers in the eastern Mediterranean also involve several warships, two submarines and long-range Tu-22M3 bombers along with other combat aircraft. The supersonic, nuclear-capable Tu-22M3s were first deployed to Syria last month in a demonstration of an increased Russian military foothold in the Mediterranean.