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US Fleet in the Black Sea, a new challenge for Moscow


The US naval mission is part of a joint operation with its NATO allies in the Black Sea and the Mediterranean, IRNA reported from Moscow on Sunday. This was practically done in front of the eyes of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who was in Sochi. On the eve of the opening of some defense meetings, he suggested looking at the American destroyer “through the lens of the camera or the fly of defense systems.”

رزم‌ناو «یو. اس. The USSMountWhitney entered the Black Sea last week by observing the Russians; Moscow considers the presence of these yachts to disturb the peace and security of this watershed, which is particularly close to the Crimean peninsula and a sensitive security area for Moscow.

you. اس. The S. Whitney is a LCC model of the US Navy.

Earlier in the day, the US Navy announced the deployment of the USSPorter (DDG 78) destroyer, the Arleigh Burke, built in the early 1990s. Equipped with “fuzzy array” radar (AN / SPY-1D) capable of detecting, intercepting and directing missiles at targets, the warship is effective in air and missile defense, anti-surface, anti-submarine and ground attack.

The US Navy move could mean a stronger US military presence in Russian territory, and Moscow is no doubt closely monitoring the move.

Reacting to the US move, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that sending US warships to the waters of the Black Sea would not create security in the region, but would bring the coastal states in line with the policy of confrontation.

The Russian Ministry of Defense reported that forces and equipment of the Black Sea Fleet are monitoring the actions of the Mont Whitney command ship.

Russian President Vladimir Putin also said that Russian forces were able to monitor Mount Whitney through binoculars or on the radar of their defense systems.

Moscow experienced tensions with NATO last month and has repeatedly expressed concern about the alliance’s activities near its borders.

The presence of the American ship in the Black Sea was welcomed by Ukraine. “Ukraine strongly supports the growing presence of US and NATO partners in the region,” Foreign Minister Dmitry Kolba said on Twitter.

The presence of this American ship in the Black Sea coincided with the day of Russia’s national unity, on which Putin also traveled to Crimea, and in his speech he always considered Crimea for Russia, which was severely criticized by Ukraine.

Meanwhile, the press service of the Russian Black Sea Fleet published a report on the destruction of a group of hypothetical enemy ships. Russian media quoted more details of the US naval presence in the Black Sea, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Russian President Vladimir Putin as saying that new tensions in the region were linked to many factors, according to experts. .

Growing tensions in the disputed Donbass region (eastern Ukraine), a review of US defense cooperation with Ukraine that shifts its focus to the Black Sea, and finally the design of a new NATO strategy to deter the Black Sea and the Mediterranean in deterring Russia in the future. They will have a special role, among these factors.

“Vladimir Putin’s remarks about looking at American ships through the ‘Magsic valve’ reflect a general escalation of tensions over Ukraine in recent weeks,” Vasily Kashin, deputy director of the Center for Comprehensive European and International Studies at the Higher School of Economics, told Kommersant. Recent observed.

On the one hand, this is due to the actions of the Ukrainian authorities, including with the help of provocative military measures, to advance their agenda in the West. Russia, on the other hand, is expressing growing dissatisfaction with what Vladimir Putin has called the West’s “military expansionism” on Ukrainian soil. “As a result, the situation in the Black Sea is deteriorating again.”

“Although at the moment it can only be said that this is a new attempt by the United States and NATO to put psychological pressure on Russia in the Black Sea so that they can come up with another military argument in the dispute,” Andrei Kortunov, executive director of the Russian Council on Foreign Relations, told Russian media. Reach over Ukraine, but the line between display and provocative action is constantly narrowing, and the threat of crossing red lines is constantly getting closer to reality.

At the same time, the Black Sea region, in which several countries are present at the same time and countries that have an alliance or partnership with the United States, has a much better perspective for American strategists, because in the Black Sea, if necessary, it can “It made Russia international.”

“Washington is facing a difficult issue,” said Vladimir Vasilyev, a researcher at the American-Canadian Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences. On the one hand, it must prevent a full-scale conflict in Donbass and turn it into a hot phase, because military success in it is obviously not guaranteed. On the other hand, it must be prevented from imagining that Ukraine will be another abandoned ally of the United States, after Afghanistan. The United States has found a solution to this problem by intensifying its activities in the Black Sea.

US Fleet in the Black Sea, a new challenge for Moscow

“The US naval presence outside Ukraine is almost an ideal way to show support for Kiev without the need to use the capabilities of NATO member states during the hybrid war in Donbas.”

Vladimir Batyuk, a professor at the Higher School of Economics, also called for the situation not to be disastrous. “The presence of the Porter destroyer and the Mont Whitney warship in the Black Sea will trigger a wave of military activity, but will not lead to a fundamental change in the balance of power in the region,” he said.

“In the near future, it is unlikely that it will be able to count on the establishment of permanent US and allied military bases on the territory of Bulgaria and Romania, now other non-NATO countries, such as Georgia and Ukraine, and neither Washington nor Brussels,” he added. “None of them have the resources or the political will to do so.”

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