Russia will hold planned military exercises in the Black Sea, involving ship-based tactical groups, Interfax news agency reported on Thursday, citing Russia's Black Sea Fleet.

Six Russian warships arrived earlier on Thursday in the Black Sea, near the Crimean peninsula that Moscow annexed from Ukraine in 2014, from the Mediterranean Sea for naval drills, news agencies reported.

Russia announced last month its navy would stage a sweeping set of exercises involving all its fleets in January and February, from the Pacific to the Atlantic, in the latest show of strength in a surge of military activity during a standoff with the West over Ukraine.

(Cover: One of three Russian ships sails through the Dardanelles or Canakkale to cross the Bosphorus, Istanbul, on their way to the Black Sea, February 9, 2022. /AP)