"Inside Latvia's exclusive economic zone and a small distance from the boundary of our territorial waters, the Armed Forces have identified several ships of the Russian Navy," the NBS reported early on Sunday morning.
2. 4.j.j. attālumā tika identificēta Tarantul klases korvete. 6,4.j.j. attāl.- velkonis Viktor Konecky, kurš buksēja Kilo klases zemūdeni.
— NBS (@Latvijas_armija) 19 июля 2015
According to the Latvian Armed Forces, a Russian Tarantul-class corvette was spotted sailing four nautical miles off its maritime border, while the tugboat 'Viktor Kopecky' was seen pulling a Kilo-class sub 6.4 nautical miles from the border.
The NBS regularly reports via Twitter about the presence of Russian naval and air units near Latvia's maritime borders. RIA Novosti has added them up, finding that since January 2015, Russian military units have been spotted 51 times since the beginning of the year, down from 250 times in 2014. Last month, amid ongoing NATO exercises, the NBS counted over a dozen Russian naval and air units sailing and flying around their borders within the space of 48 hours.
Last month, NATO forces held a series of large-scale US-led military exercises known as Saber Strike 2015 on Russia's doorstep, in Poland and the Baltic states. The exercises involved 6,000 personnel from 12 NATO countries plus Finland. Held annually since 2010, the exercises involving ground, air and naval components have consistently grown in terms of both troop numbers and the number of countries participating over the past several years.
