The United States will send two warships to the Black Sea next week amid a Russian build-up of military forces along its border with Ukraine, the Turkish government said on Friday.
NATO ally Turkey said the two US warships would reach the Black Sea from Wednesday to Thursday after Washington notified Ankara a little over two weeks ago.
“A notice was sent to us via diplomatic channels 15 days ago that two American warships would cross into the Black Sea, in accordance with the Montreux Convention,” a 1936 treaty giving Ankara control of the Strait, according to the Turkish Foreign Ministry, as reported by Reuters. “The ships will remain in the Black Sea until May 4.”
Pentagon press secretary John Kirby declined to confirm the specific move Friday and told reporters the Department of Defense regularly ships ships to the region.
“This is nothing new,” Kirby said.
The navy regularly sails with its ships through the Black Sea – a body of water along almost the entire southern border of Ukraine – but the new movement indicates to Moscow that Washington is aware of the recent Russian aggression.
Kirby on Friday repeatedly referred to Russia’s recent actions in eastern Ukraine as a ‘build-up’ of forces rather than exercise, as Moscow has insisted.
Last month, fighting resumed between Moscow-backed separatists and Ukrainian troops in eastern Ukraine, ending the ceasefire that the two groups made last summer. The NATO countries are involved in the action, while the US European commando is raising its alert status to the highest level.
Russia, in turn, has accused NATO countries that do not share a Black Sea coastline of increasing naval activity.
The White House said this week that Russia has deployed more troops on Ukraine’s eastern border than ever since 2014, when it annexed Crimea from Ukraine.