Anyone find any links to this story?

Found this on the Prava message board.

Russia is sending subs to Gulf!!!
Russian nuclear subs to head for the Gulf
05.04.2003 [22:22]

The Russian Defense Ministry is preparing to send warships to the Arabian Sea, the Nezavisimaya Gazeta newspaper reports.

According to it, Russian ships will arrive to the Arabian Sea in late April. The official aim of the campaign is to carry out military and naval military exercises there, "according to an agreement with India". However, it seems that this explanation does not reveal the true goals of the campaign. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov has said recently that the timeframe of the campaign would depend on the situation in Iraq.

According to the newspaper, two scenarios are possible. The first one envisages the occupation of an important onshore facility by marines. Quoting an army general, the Nezavisimaya Gazeta reports that it might be the oil terminals of Umm Qasr. This action, resembling a quick seizure of Pristina at the end of the Yugoslavian war, might affect the alignment of forces in the post-war Iraq. However, the battle group is not enough strong for this purpose. It will have only one landing ship capable of carrying 150 marines and 10 tanks.

The second scenario envisages a "battle" with an enemy air force. Speaking in Munich in February 2003, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said that the battle group would comprise "about ten warships, including submarines and large landing ships".

In the light of new information, it becomes clear that there will be at least three nuclear submarines in the battle group. It will be like an iceberg, with the main firepower hidden underwater.

According to the newspaper, the ships of the Black Sea battle group, comprised of the Moscow cruiser, the large landing ship Caesar Kunikov and two frigates, will leave the Black Sea post of Sebastopol in five or seven days. Ten to twelve days later, the ships will arrive to the war zone. In early May, another three warships of the Pacific Fleet will join them.

Thus, the Russian Defense Ministry expects that the situation in the Middle East will change dramatically by late April, which might require interference from Russia, the Nezavisimaya Gazeta concludes.

I heard about this on a radio station. Flipping through the AM.

Russia is the third large member of the triad controlling the economic maneuvering behind the war. Russia is also the only member with the military ability to even begin to challenge us. I dont know that they will attempt an open military confrontation, however, our game plan is well known in international circles, and we will soon be opening a new field in Iran.

My guess is that this may well be the opening scene for overt military assitance to the Iranians by the Russians.

EW this is really what is relevant to the issue at hand.

Sunday, Apr. 6, 2003, 9:17 PM Moscow Time

MOSCOW. April 6 (Interfax) - The Iraqi ambassador to Russia declined to comment on an incident on Sunday in which four or five people were injured as a convoy of Russian Embassy diplomats and journalists came under fire near Baghdad.

"All the comments will come tomorrow," Abbas Khalaf told Interfax after a day of unsuccessful attempts to contact him by telephone.

Khalaf and U.S. Ambassador Alexander Vershbow were summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry after the incident but the Iraqi diplomat declined to comment on his visit to the ministry as well

It seems possible that the bullet holes in the vehicles(and people) were from Iraqi weapons.

I expected this conflict to escalate to other Arab nations and have been hoping Russia would stay home. Russia's recent suppling Iraq with hi-tech weapons and technology appeared to project their true colors regarding being America's ally and ulterior motives. I can only hope that Russia won't provide any provocation of a military nature with the coalition forces.

With the recent rumblings from North Korea & China, this could become a major world conflict.

Gosh, it's really looking serious now.

Hopefully, this won't come to a shooting war with Russia.

and get some more facts before saying the sky is falling....

Why suspect this it is anything more than the military exercise it's cited as? And, if not, it's likely going to be more to pressure holding off on moving on to Iran or Syria, than an overt confrontation with the US...

Maybe they are just coming to try and cabbage on some of the aid going into Iraq. I'll bet those food packets look pretty good to those guys that communism has half-starved to death. And as for Hi-tech weaponry, I hope what they gave Saddam wasn't their A-list stuff cause it was not effective on any scale. Rather than wondering what they going to do when they get to the gulf, I think we should really be wondering if they got enough fuel and supplies to get there.

Sounds more like a secret war. We won't know about it until it hits us like 9/11.

Why would Russia attack USA??

Btw Denmark sent a submarine to the gulf too... Dont you think that they are going to start a war with you too...