The Biden government is considering sending warships to the Black Sea within the next few weeks to counter a larger Russian military presence on Ukraine’s eastern border, according to a report on Thursday.
A Department of Defense official told CNN that naval reconnaissance aircraft are flying over the Black Sea in international airspace to monitor Russian naval movements.
They said that moving warships to the region would send a strong message to Russia and inform the Kremlin that the US was monitoring the situation.
And “if something changes, we are ready to respond,” the official said.
The Russian Defense Ministry has announced that it is moving more than ten vessels, including landing craft and artillery warships, from the Caspian Sea to the Black Sea to take part in military exercises, Reuters reports.
Ukrainian military officials also said Russia had deployed tanks and armored vehicles near the border with eastern Ukraine.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow could move its troops at its “discretion”.
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said at a news conference on Wednesday that the U.S. Navy regularly had ships in the Black Sea and that the U.S. had provided Ukraine with non-lethal and lethal weapons to defend.
He also called on Moscow to “lower and decalate the temperature”.
Under a 1936 treaty giving Turkey control of the strait to enter the Black Sea, the US must give 14 days notice of its intention to move ships.
The Russian military build-up has frightened European leaders and urged German Chancellor Angela Merkel to call on Russian President Vladimir Putin to withdraw and escalate troops.
Biden’s government has teamed up with the international community to raise concerns about rising tensions between Ukraine and Russia.
In recent weeks, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Miller, and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan have all been talking to their Ukrainian counterparts.
The Russian navy has conducted artillery exercises in the Black Sea and successfully hit targets off the coast of Crimea, the Russian news agency Tass reported on Thursday.
Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, leading to sanctions imposed by former President Barack Obama and the European Union.
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