Kremlin opens war drills as tensions rise with Britain

MOSCOW — The Russian military is conducting sweeping maneuvers in the Mediterranean Sea featuring warplanes armed with stateoftheart hypersonic missiles, a show of force amid a surge in tensions following an incident with a British destroyer in the Black Sea.

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 it out of an area near Crimea that Russia claims as its territorial waters. Britain denied the account, insisted its ship wasn’t fired upon and said it was sailing in Ukrainian waters.

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. F35 fighters from HMS Queen Elizabeth flew combat sorties against the Islamic State group.

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 a pair of MiG31 fighter jets capable of carrying Kinzhal hypersonic missiles arrived at the Russian airbase in Syria and flew training missions to practice strikes on targets in the Mediterranean. The Hemeimeem airbase, in the coastal province of Latakia, serves as the main hub for

Moscow’s operations in the country.

It’s the first time the warplanes armed with Kinzhal have been deployed outside Russia’s borders.

The military says the Kinzhal has a range of up to 1,250 miles and flies at 10 times the speed of sound, making it hard to intercept.

The Defense Ministry said the maneuvers in the eastern Mediterranean also involve several warships, two submarines and longrange bombers along with other combat aircraft. The supersonic, nuclearcapable bombers were first deployed to Syria last month in a demonstration of an increased Russian military foothold in the Mediterranean.

The Russian military has increased the number and scope of its drills amid a bitter strain in relations with the West, which have sunk to postCold War lows after Moscow’s 2014 annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula.