29 March 2013/17 Jumada l-Ula 1434/09 Farvardin 1391/18 Yi-Mao (2nd month) 4711

“These are large scale unannounced test exercises. The main goal is to check the readiness and cohesion of the various units…”-Dmitry Peskov, spokesman for President Vladimir Putin

Putin issued the surprise war game order while flying back from the BRICS meeting in South Africa.  It involves 36 ships and 7000 personnel in the Black Sea.

Upon landing in Russia, Putin went immediately to the Black Sea to observe the war games.

One analyst thinks it’s about the U.S. backed Syrian insurgency: “It is flexing muscles and may have more to do with what is happening in the Mediterranean, around Syria, than in the Black Sea.”-Fyodor Lukyanov,  editor of Russia in Global Affairs