MOSCOW, July 25. /TASS/. Kremlin Aide Nikolay Patrushev accused the US of plans to militarize the Black Sea.

"Pursuing the goal of large-scale militarization of the Black Sea, the US has long questioned the Montreux Convention that regulates the passage of ships through the straits. The NATO is not satisfied that this time-tested document gives priority to the ships of the Black Sea littoral states over others," he said in an interview with the Rossiyskaya Gazeta newspaper.

Patrushev, who oversees Russia’s maritime policy, was commenting on Ukraine's maritime security strategy. He said the international convention was adopted in 1936 in Montreux and set the rules for ships from countries outside the Black Sea to navigate the sea.

"Kiev prefers not to remember this document. Washington simply prohibits it from doing so," the official said.

"In the 1990s, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, without waiting for NATO to expand, the US began to regularly send warships of the main types and support vessels to the Black Sea," Patrushev said. "Under the restrictions set by the convention on the duration of stay, tonnage and some classes of ships, this activity of the US Navy took several years."

"True to form, one of the first to be sent to the Black Sea was the then-newest American rescue ship Grapple, which was designed, among other things, to train submariners and assist submarines in distress," he went on to say. "It is also interesting that this agreement prohibits entry into the Black Sea for submarines of non-Black Sea countries. And now this ship regularly visits the region. It recently conducted exercises in Georgian territorial waters."

Earlier, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky signed a decree to enact the decision of the National Security and Defense Council about the country's maritime security strategy. Named as the main goals of this strategy are the development of Ukraine's naval forces and ensuring the permanent presence of NATO forces in the Black Sea. Kremlin Spokesman Dmitriy Peskov said Moscow sees an additional threat in efforts to ensure a concentrated presence of NATO ships in the Black Sea and will take all necessary measures for its own security.