Ben Brimelow Business Insider
This is the first time two US Navy warships have been in the Black Sea since NATO and Ukraine conducted naval defense drills in July 2017. The exercise involved more than 3,000 members.
Also read: Navy names Arleigh-Burke destroyer after World War II Marine hero
US military officials told CNN that the purpose of the deployment was to “desensitize Russia to the presence of US military forces there,” and to help “establish rules for how the two countries should safely operate in proximity to each other, as they did in the Cold War.”
Russia responded to the announcement on Feb. 20, 2018, and said they are tracking the destroyers. “If they demonstrate any hostile or provocative actions … they will get a response and will be served accordingly,” Russian Admiral Vladimir Valuev said.
This is the first time two US Navy warships have been in the Black Sea since NATO and Ukraine conducted naval defense drills in July 2017. The exercise involved more than 3,000 members.
Also read: Navy names Arleigh-Burke destroyer after World War II Marine hero
US military officials told CNN that the purpose of the deployment was to “desensitize Russia to the presence of US military forces there,” and to help “establish rules for how the two countries should safely operate in proximity to each other, as they did in the Cold War.”
Russia responded to the announcement on Feb. 20, 2018, and said they are tracking the destroyers. “If they demonstrate any hostile or provocative actions … they will get a response and will be served accordingly,” Russian Admiral Vladimir Valuev said.
During the Cold War, the Soviet Union effectively controlled the entirety of the Black Sea, though Turkey has determined who can enter and exit the body of water since the sixteenth century.
But in the decades since the collapse of the Soviet Union, almost all of the Black Sea nations have either joined NATO, or had their relations with Russia deteriorate due to armed conflict.
Related: Here is how Burke-class destroyers will be able to zap incoming missiles
Russia is very sensitive about the Black Sea and has been militarizing Crimea since its annexation in 2014. “Basically anything new that they have they are putting in Crimea,” a US defense official based in Europe told CNN.
In addition to close intercepts with the US Navy, the sea has seen a number of incidents with other nations. In 2016, Turkish President said that the Black Sea had “nearly become a Russian lake,” and Ukraine claimed in 2017 that guns from a Russian-occupied oil rig had shot at a military plane, which Russia subsequently denied.
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