Cypriot National Defence Minister Christoforos Fokaides said that the Turkish frigate Barbaros, a seismic vessel, and two support vessels entered the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of Cyprus at 6.30 a.m. on Monday.

Turkey recently issued a marine advisory for seismic surveys in international waters, including Cyprus’ Flight Information Region (FIR) as well as its EEZ without asking the authorities of Cyprus for permission as Ankara does not recognize the republic of Cyprus.

Another frigate of the Turkish navy is also in the region to observe the exploratory deep-sea drilling for gas deposits off the island by Italian-Korean energy consortium ENI-Kogas. The frigate is five miles away from the rig that will drill to 5,500 meters – in a water depth of 2,500 meters – over the coming weeks and exploratory drilling due to take place over the next 19 months.

Furthermore, Russian navy exercises are taking place in the area this week with Russian warships conducting drills east of Cyprus from October 20-23. The drills will take place inside the Nicosia FIR in a reserved area of over 800 square miles stretching from Cape Apostolos Andreas to the coast of Syria.

The Russian navy exercizes that include rocket test firings coincide with the start of surveys by the Turkish seismic vessel Barbados from October 20 through to December 30.