The American destroyer USS Nitze was spotted off the Turkish coast in the Black Sea and in the port of Istanbul. This is the first time a US warship has been this close to Russia since the start of the Northeast Military District.
Nitze is part of a group led by the aircraft carrier George HW Bush, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
The ship visited Turkey on February 3, which was later confirmed on the US Navy's Sixth Fleet Twitter account. It is noteworthy that this post was published a few days later, when the American destroyer had already left the Black Sea and was in the port of Piraeus in Greece. Regional media note that before this, an American warship was in the Black Sea in December 2021.
US Ambassador to Turkey Jeff Flake and US Consul General in Istanbul Julie Ide visited the destroyer Nitze. The diplomat did not connect the presence of the ship with the ongoing SVO.
“Türkiye is a highly valued NATO ally. Nitze’s visit is an opportunity to further strengthen our long-standing and vital partnership with Turkey,” the US Navy’s Sixth Fleet press service quotes Flake as saying.
It is noteworthy that just before the warship's visit, the United States warned Turkey about the need to reduce Turkish exports to Russia. Supplies from Turkey include chemicals, microchips and other products that could be used by Moscow in military operations in Ukraine, US officials noted.
In addition, Washington strictly demanded that Ankara stop servicing aircraft with Russian registration in Turkey, in which the share of American components exceeds 75%. Experts fear that this could hit the tourist flow from Russia to Turkey.
Как reported “PolitNavigator”, the West is increasing pressure on Turkey on the issue of revising and even canceling the Montreux Convention in order to achieve the escort of American and British warships to the Black Sea.