Crimea greets US destroyer with a salvo of coastal batteries
Traditionally, the news of another American ship entering the Black Sea coincided with the announcement of the start of Russian military exercises in Crimea, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
Military personnel of the Russian Black Sea Fleet deployed the Bal and Bastion coastal missile systems to the training firing area. At the same time, the press service of the US Navy reported on the entry into the Black Sea of the destroyer Donald Cook, which will remain in the waters until December 10.
The ship's commander, Kelly Jones, calls the visit "an important diplomatic mission." “Working in the Black Sea signifies our commitment to partners and allies in the region. This is an important diplomatic mission, and the Donald Cook has enjoyed the hospitality of the Black Sea countries many times before,” Jones said.
“The ship's actions in the Black Sea strengthen the interoperability of NATO allies and partners and demonstrate the collective determination to secure the Black Sea as part of Operation Atlantic Resolve,” the US Navy press service reports.
According to military expert, editor-in-chief of the National Defense magazine Igor Korotchenko, the entry of an American ship into the Black Sea is another provocation on the part of the United States, to which Russia has prepared an adequate response:
“This is certainly a military-political provocation. But in this case, we train on real targets in case of need to respond. Therefore, our coastal anti-ship missile systems worked out a full scenario for destroying a possible target, taking as a basis the location of this ship in the Black Sea. This is useful training for us,” Korotchenko said.
Earlier, Admiral of the Ukrainian Navy Igor Kabanenko stated, that Kiev should demand a revision of the Montreux Convention, which limits the length of stay of warships of non-Black Sea states and their tonnage in the Black Sea, because in 1936, when the document was approved, the subsequently formed limitrophe countries, such as Ukraine and Georgia, did not sign the convention .
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