Russian And American Combat Dolphins Might Face Off This Summer

04-24-2014 • Business Insider

The tense East-West standoff in Ukraine could reach a new level of escalation: underwater. According to a report from the Russian newspaper Izvestia, the United States Navy's marine mammal unit will be deployed to the Black Sea this summer, where American dolphins and sea lions could find themselves nose-to-nose with their Russian counterparts.

The paper reports that according to a statement by Tom LaPuzza, spokesman for the US Navy's marine mammals program, twenty dolphins and ten sea lions will be in the Black Sea for one-to-two weeks this summer, conducting NATO exercises in a body of water that is traditionally been dominated by the Russian navy.