Italy warns of potential risk over rising Russian ships in Mediterranean

Italy's navy chief said Thursday that a recent increase in the number of Russian ships in the Mediterranean pose a potential risk to incidents in the area, according to media reports.

"The immediate effects on our security of the war in Ukraine have once again reverberated on the sea and are the impressive increase in the numbers of the Russian fleet in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea to a level not even seen in the days of the Cold War," Navy Chief of Staff Enrico Credendino said in Rome.

He noted the rising number of Russian ships does not directly threaten Italian national territory but added that it increases the tension, according to the state-run ANSA news agency reported.

"The risk of an incident is possible and when there is an incident of this nature you never know where you might end up," he added.

Credendino argued that Russia was also raising its presence in the Ionian Sea and rising the risk of incidents there as well.