MOSCOW, June 17. /TASS/. Special equipment of the Russian Southern Military District has begun tracking the US Navy’s USS Porter, Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, that entered the Black Sea, Russia’s National Defense Management Center told reporters Wednesday.

The military agency clarified that the destroyer sailed into the Black Sea on June 17. "Forces and equipment of the Southern Military District are tracking the ship to timely react to possible incidents in the Black Sea," the center noted.

Earlier on Wednesday, the press service of the US Navy’s Sixth Fleet that the destroyer is part of announced that the ship started moving to the Black Sea for drills with NATO allies and partners in the region. This is the third time the USS Porter has entered the Black Sea in 2020.

The ship last sailed into the Black Sea in April. In early May, the ship entered the Barents Sea accompanied by the Roosevelt and the Donald Cook destroyers.