MOSCOW (Reuters) - A U.S. naval command ship entered the Black Sea on Thursday as part of NATO maneuvers that drew a warm welcome from Ukraine but close scrutiny from the Russian navy.
The U.S. navy said the Mount Whitney was in the region to conduct routine maritime operations with NATO allies and partners.
The Black Sea - in particular the area near the Crimean peninsula, is a sensitive security zone for Moscow.
“Welcome, #USSMountWhitney. Ukraine has been calling for and strongly supports enhanced presence of our U.S. and NATO partners in the region,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Twitter. “Additional 18,400 tons of diplomacy are surely helpful to this aim.”
Russia has repeatedly accused NATO of carrying out provocative activities close to its borders as the U.S.-led military alliance has expressed determination to reinforce the security of member states close to Russia.
Relations between Moscow and Kiev have been strained since clashes erupted in Ukraine’s eastern Donbass region between Ukrainian government forces and ethnic Russians in 2014. The U.S., the European Union, and Ukraine claim that Russia has a hand in the conflict. Moscow strongly rejects the allegation.
The Black Sea peninsula of Crimea voted in a referendum to fall under Russian sovereignty in a referendum in the same year and more than 90 percent of the participants in the plebiscite voted in favor of that unification.
Russia, which severed ties with NATO last month, complains frequently about alliance activity close to its borders or in what it regards as its post-Soviet sphere of influence.
But the show of U.S. military force was warmly received by Ukraine.
“Additional 18,400 tons of diplomacy are surely helpful to this aim.”
On Monday, it said that the amphibious command ship had arrived in the Turkish city of Istanbul and would soon join forces with guided-missile destroyer USS Porter as well as other NATO ships in the Black Sea.
Russian President Vladimir Putin criticized the U.S.-led NATO activity near Russia’s borders and said his country’s forces could observe the USS Mount Whitney “through binoculars or in the crosshairs of its... defense systems.”
Putin and other top Russian officials have previously warned that the expansion of NATO activities in Ukraine represents a “red line” for Moscow.