KIEV, February 10. /TASS/. The US Navy guided missile destroyers Porter and Donald Cook have departed from the Black Sea, following the completion of joint operations with NATO allies and partners in the region, the US Embassy in Kiev announced on Wednesday.
"The USS Porter and USS Donald Cook depart the Black Sea following 17 days of operations alongside NATO allies and partners," the US diplomatic mission said on its Twitter.
Russia’s National Defense Control Center reported on January 23 that the Black Sea Fleet was tracking the US Navy guided missile destroyer Donald Cook that had entered the Black Sea. As the US warship sailed into the Black Sea, a Russian Bastion mobile coastal defense anti-ship missile system had made a march to a positioning area in Crimea as part of its drills, it said.
The US Embassy in Kiev reported on January 28 that the US Navy guided missile destroyer Porter was transiting the straits to enter the Black Sea for drills with NATO allies and partners. The embassy informed on January 29 that the US Navy destroyers had conducted a maritime operation in the Black Sea. In turn, the crew of the Russian Black Sea Fleet’s frigate Admiral Makarov held a series of shipborne drills amid the US warships’ entry into the Black Sea.
NATO beefs up presence in Black Sea
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said at a joint press conference with Ukrainian Prime Minister Denis Shmygal in Brussels on February 9 that the Black Sea region was of strategic importance for all the NATO members and partners, which had prompted the alliance to increase its presence there. In turn, the Ukrainian prime minister said that Ukraine would hold the ‘Unbreakable Resilience’ command and staff drills jointly with NATO forces in Odessa this year.
The Russian Foreign Ministry has repeatedly stated that the presence of warships in the Black Sea that belong to states outside of the region does not boost stability there. The US insists that it acts within the framework of the Montreux Convention that regulates the transit of naval ships through the Bosporus and Dardanelles Straits while the drills run in international waters.