Moscow – Tensions between Russia and the West increased further this week, with Russia offering more military exercises in the Black Sea and Gathering thousands of troops at Ukraine’s border. In a clear sign of cooling relations, the US Ambassador to Moscow confirms that he is leaving the country for ‘consultations’ back in the US
More than 20 Russian vessels, along with Su-25SM3 attack aircraft, took part in the latest exercises, as part of an investigation by naval forces, the Russian Black Sea Fleet said on Tuesday.
Russia has also announced that it will close the airspace over parts of Crimea and the Black Sea, saying the areas have been “temporarily declared dangerous for aircraft flights”, Russian news agency Interfax reported on Tuesday, citing an official notice issued to pilots was sent.
Troops at the Ukrainian border
More than 100,000 Russian troops have gathered on the border with Ukraine and in the Crimea, the European Union’s foreign affairs chief, Josep Borrell, said after a briefing by Ukraine’s foreign minister.
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Crimea is the peninsula that was unilaterally annexed by President Vladimir Putin of Ukraine in 2014. His government now considers it Russian territory, and although the US and Europe have refused to recognize the takeover, the Russian military has firm control over foreign land. in the Black Sea.
“This is the highest military deployment of Russian army in Ukrainian borders ever,” Borrell said. He initially said Russia had amassed more than 150,000 troops in the region, but his comments were later corrected without elaborating.
The Maxar satellite imagery company on Tuesday delivered nearly a dozen images that, according to them, showed increased movements and an influx of Russian military hardware in numerous places in the Crimea, Ukraine and near the shared border, over the past few weeks.
Satellite Image © 2021 Maxar Technologies
The build-up came amid an increase in hostilities in eastern Ukraine, where Russian-backed separatists have been locked in a simmering war with the U.S. and European-backed military since 2014. The increase in violence in eastern Ukraine has raised international fears of a possible flare-up in the so-called frozen conflict.
While US military officials have yet to see any indication that Russia is preparing for a looming cross-border invasion of Ukraine, the United States, the United Kingdom and European states have criticized Moscow for its military build-up.
The Kremlin has shrugged off all calls to withdraw troops and hardware, saying Russian forces are free to move into Russian territory as they see fit, and to respond to what Moscow calls a “challenging” move by the NATO alliance near call its boundaries.
Satellite Image © 2021 Maxar Technologies
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday that Moscow was not responsible for the rising tensions. He called on other countries to refrain from “mass anti-Russian psychosis”.
Warships in the Black Sea
Last week, the Russian Ministry of Defense said it had suspended navigation in parts of the Black Sea to foreign military and other official vessels from mid-April to late October. The move was condemned by the West.
SERGEY PIVOVAROV / REUTERS
US State Department spokesman Ned Price called it “another unresolved escalation in Moscow’s ongoing campaign to undermine and destabilize Ukraine”, and “particularly worrying amid credible reports of Russian build-up” troops in occupied Crimea and around Ukraine’s borders. ‘
Two British warships would depart for the Black Sea in May, The Sunday Times reported on Tuesday, citing senior British British sources. The deployment is intended to show solidarity with Ukraine and Britain’s NATO allies, the newspaper reported.
According to the report, one Type 45 destroyer armed with anti-aircraft missiles and an anti-submarine Type 23 frigate from the Royal Navy’s task force will be released into the Mediterranean and sail through the Bosphorus to the Black Sea. RAF F-35B lightning planes and Merlin submarine fighter helicopters will be ready on the task force’s flagship, carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth, the newspaper said.
The Turkish government announced last week that the US plans to deploy two warships to the Black Sea, but later said the Pentagon had canceled the deployment. U.S. officials have never confirmed or denied the deployment, but a Pentagon spokesman noted that U.S. vessels had previously operated in the international waters of the Black Sea.
US Ambassador leaves
U.S. Ambassador John Sullivan has said he will return to Washington this week for consultations after the Russian Foreign Ministry suggested he do so amid a diplomatic crisis between the two countries.
“I believe it is important for me to speak directly with my new colleagues in the Biden Government in Washington on the current state of bilateral relations between the United States and Russia,” he said in comments published by the Moscow embassy. has.
Sullivan, a Trump nominee, has said he plans to return to Moscow in the coming weeks, ahead of any meeting between Presidents Biden and Putin.
His departure follows Russia’s response to the latest round of US sanctions, announced last week, which includes the expulsion of ten US diplomats from Russia and a ban on the US embassy from employing any Russian citizens.
The Russian ambassador to the United States has been back in Moscow for a month now, after being recalled by the Foreign Ministry for consultations.