Russian Navy in Mediterranean forces Dutch sub to move over

A Russian aircraft carrier group in the eastern Mediterranean has forced a Dutch submarine to move over, the Russian Defense Ministry said Wednesday.

The Russian naval group detected a diesel-electric submarine of the Dutch Navy which attempted to approach it for monitoring purposes earlier on Wednesday, Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov, the ministry's spokesman, said in a statement.

Russian warships have been tracking the submarine's maneuvers for more than an hour and then forced it to leave the area of the carrier strike group, Konashenkov said.

"Such clumsy attempts to carry out dangerous maneuvers in the vicinity of the Russian group of ships could lead to serious navigation accidents," he added.

The Russian military has said the group, which is led by the Pyotr Veliky missile cruiser and includes Russia's sole aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov, has been sent to reinforce the Russian naval group operating in the Mediterranean with the aim of aiding the anti-terrorist mission in Syria.

Konashenkov said that on the way to its destination, the Russian naval group has regularly detected NATO submarines in its vicinity. Endi