Despite earlier denials, Moscow will send a naval group to the Persian Gulf, \"Izvestiya\" reported on 3 March. The Pacific Fleet has finished preparations to send warships including the cruisers \"Admiral Pantaleev\" and the \"Marshal Shaposhnikov\" to the Persian Gulf region, where they will rendezvous with a group from the Black Sea Fleet headed by the cruiser \"Moskva.\" According to initial plans, the Pacific Fleet group should have set sail at the end of February, but now an unidentified source at the fleet\'s command in Vladivostok told the daily that the exact start date for the mission will depend on the situation in the gulf and on the decisions of the country\'s political leadership. During the war between Iraq and Iran in the 1980s, the Pacific Fleet protected Soviet shipping in the region, and in the 1990s, it helped monitor compliance with UN economic sanctions against Iraq, a fleet spokesman said. (RFE/RL)