by Robert Whitcomb | Jun 17, 2016 | AI World Society Summit
U.S. Navy Secretary Ray Mabus said that the United States will maintain its military presence in the Black Sea despite, in Reuters’s words, “a Russian warning that a U.S. destroyer patrolling there undermined regional security.”
The USS Porter entered the Black Sea this month, drawing heavy criticism from Moscow. Turkey and Romania are expected to seek a bigger NATO presence in the sea at the NATO summit in Warsaw next month.
Mr. Mabus told Reuters that it was the U.S. Navy’s job to deter aggression, presumably meaning Russian aggression, and keep international sea lanes open.
Relations between Russia and NATO have been very strained over Moscow’s attack on Ukraine and military support of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad.
For more details, hit this link.
by Robert Whitcomb | Jun 10, 2016 | AI World Society Summit
(June 13th, 2016) Tensions between NATO and Russia, already high, have gone a bit higher with the vaguely threatening remarks by the Russian Foreign Ministry that Russian leader Vladimir Putin would respond to a U.S. Navy destroyer’s entry into the Black Sea with unspecified measures, Reuters and other news media report. Turkey, Romania and Bulgaria, all of which border on the Black Sea, are members of NATO.
Russian state media reported that the USS Porter, a U.S. naval destroyer, entered the Black Sea a few days ago, a move that state media said angered Moscow because the warship was recently fitted with a new missile system.
U.S. Navy officials told reporters on June 8 that the U.S. would also have two aircraft carriers in the Mediterranean this month ahead of a July NATO summit in Warsaw as Washington continues to seek to address Russia’s intensifying military activities in eastern Europe and Syria.
For more details, hit this link.
