A number of Russian naval vessels entered the Sea of Azov

A number of Russian warships entered the Sea of Azov.

Militarnyi reported by this.

Photos of Russian Navy ships passing through the Kerch Strait and entering the Sea of Azov have appeared on social networks and Telegram channels.

The flotilla includes Ropucha-class landing ships “Novocherkassk” and “Caesar Kunikov”, and Alligator-class landing ship “Saratov” accompanied by a missile corvette, patrol and chaser vessels.

Earlier, the Russian Ministry of Defense issued a NOTAM (a Notice to Airmen) on the close the airspace over the Sea of Azov from 21 to 26 February.

In such way, Russia almost completely closed the airspace over the offshore section of Azov off the coast of Ukraine.

In addition, today the head of the Monitoring Group of the Institute of Black Sea Strategic Studies, editor-in-chief of the BlackSeaNews online portal Andriy Klymenko reported on his Facebook page about large exercises of the Russian Navy on landing in the Black Sea off the northwest coast of occupied Crimea.

Russian maneuvers took place in close proximity to the city of Skadovsk, Kherson region with the participation of twelve ships and vessels of the Russian Navy, including six large landing ships from the Northern and Baltic fleets.

Russian maneuvers

Andriy Klymenko also noted that at 11:50 Kyiv time on February 20, 2022, in the area west of Bakalska Spit were:

“Six (6) large landing ship (3 from the Northern Fleet of the Russian Federation, 3 from the Baltic) + missile corvette of the BSF + minesweeper of the BSF + 3 powerful rescue and towing vessels of the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Federation + the coast guard of the Border Service of the FSB,” Klymenko wrote.

The head of the Monitoring Group also noted that in the evening of February 19, Russia has stopped several notices about the closure of maritime areas in the Black Sea.

As we reported earlier, on February 12, according to the plan of Russian naval exercises more than 30 warships of the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Federation set sail from Novorossiysk and from occupied Sevastopol.