US Reneges On Deploying Destroyers In Black Sea To Avoid Russia-Ukraine Tensions - Reports

The United States is backtracking on plans to send destroyers to the Black Sea to avoid inflaming tensions between Russia and Ukraine, Politico reported on Wednesday citing two US officials familiar with the matter

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 15th April, 2021) The United States is backtracking on plans to send destroyers to the Black Sea to avoid inflaming tensions between Russia and Ukraine, Politico reported on Wednesday citing two US officials familiar with the matter.

Last month, the Russian Navy reported that it was tracking the guided missile destroyer USS Thomas Hudner entering the Black Sea. It said the US Navy notified Turkey, which controls traffic through two straits between the Mediterranean and Black Seas, that two destroyers were planning to enter the Black Sea.

However, amid a flare up in Ukraine's ongoing civil conflict and escalating tensions between Moscow and Kiev, the United States decided to forgo the deployment, which it has characterized as "routine," the report said.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Thursday that the United States and NATO are accusing Moscow of military preparations on the border with Ukraine as pretext for the build up of their forces along Russia's western border, thus aggravating the situation in Ukraine with their provocative actions.

"The number of calls of NATO warships into the Black Sea is growing. ... The flights of US strategic bombers over the Black Sea and Ukraine with the practice of reaching the borders and the use of cruise missiles have increased significantly. The intensity of aerial reconnaissance near the Crimean Peninsula has increased," Zakharova said.

This means the NATO member countries with their provocative actions are aggravating the situation around Ukraine, which is not part of the alliance's area of responsibility, and are fueling the mood for "a kind of military revenge," she added.