MOSCOW, August 29 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's Black Sea Fleet is capable
of destroying NATO's naval strike group currently deployed in the sea
within 20 minutes, a former fleet commander said on Friday.
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20080829/116377956.html

Russia's General Staff said on Tuesday there were 10 NATO ships in the
Black Sea - three U.S. warships, the Polish frigate General Pulaski,
the German frigate FGS Lubeck, and the Spanish guided missile frigate
Admiral Juan de Borbon, as well as four Turkish vessels. Eight more
warships are expected to join the group.

"Despite the apparent strength, the NATO naval group in the Black Sea
is not battle-worthy," Admiral Eduard Baltin said. "If necessary, a
single missile salvo from the Moskva missile cruiser and two or three
missile boats would be enough to annihilate the entire group."
"Within 20 minutes the waters would be clear," he said, stressing that
despite major reductions, the Black Sea Fleet still has a formidable
missile arsenal.

However, Baltin said the chances of a military confrontation between
NATO and Russia in the Black Sea are negligible.
"We will not strike first, and they do not look like people with
suicidal tendencies," he said.

In addition to its flagship, the Moskva guided missile cruiser,
Russia's Black Sea Fleet includes at least three destroyers, two
guided missile frigates, four guided missile corvettes and six missile
boats.

NATO announced its decision to deliver humanitarian aid to Georgia
after the conclusion of hostilities between Tbilisi and Moscow over
breakaway South Ossetia on August 12. Moscow recognized on Tuesday
both South Ossetia and Abkhazia, another breakaway Georgia republic,
despite being urged by Western leaders not to do so.

Russia's General Staff later said the alliance's naval deployment in
the Black Sea "cannot fail to provoke concern", with unidentified
sources in the Russian military saying a surface strike group was
being gathered there.

According to Russian military intelligence sources, the NATO warships
that have entered the Black Sea are between them carrying over 100
Tomahawk cruise missiles and Harpoon anti-ship missiles.

dkj