More Russian naval ships observed near Latvian waters

  • 2014-07-24
  • From wire reports, RIGA

Russian naval ships observed near Latvian waters recently is an attempt to test Latvia's reaction capabilities, The Latvian Defense Ministry has said. 

A Russian naval ship was observed near Latvian territorial waters earlier this week, LETA reports.

Defense Ministry spokesman Kaspars Galkins explained that Russia had been regularly attempting to show its military might' over the past several months with flights of military aircraft near Latvian borders, and obviously wants to show its naval might as well.

The Latvian Navy has reacted to every instance, and will continue to do so, Galkins said.

NATO naval ships are not  currently roaming Latvian waters, but are currently on-duty in waters in other Baltic areas.

The Russian naval ship Syzran was observed approximately 6.5 nautical miles from Latvian territorial waters, near Liepaja. The ship had not entered Latvian waters, thus the Latvian Navy only observed the ship's movements.

Similar incidents took place last month when the Russian naval ships Soobrazitelny and Boikiy were observed near Latvian waters.