Moscow. June 14. INTERFAX-AVN-The Russian navy has begun tracking the actions of warships of the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, which entered the Black Sea on Monday, the National Defense Control Center of the Russian Federation reported.
"The forces and means of the Black Sea Fleet have begun monitoring the actions of the destroyer URO Defender of the British Navy and the frigate URO Everton of the Dutch Navy, which entered the Black Sea on June 14, 2021," the center said in a statement.
On June 11, the National Defense Control Center of the Russian Federation reported that the destroyer URO (with guided missile weapons) entered the Black Sea) The US Navy "Laboon" (USS Laboon), it is also monitored by the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Federation.
The USS Laboon of the US Navy is heading to the Black Sea to participate in maritime security operations, it was reported in the blog of the US Sixth Fleet on Twitter. The destroyer can carry up to 56 Tomahawk cruise missiles with a range of 1.6 thousand km.
The Russian military will have to increase the readiness of the duty forces due to the entry of warships of the United States, Great Britain and the Netherlands into the Black Sea, the former commander of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, Admiral Vladimir Komoyedov, told Interfax on June 11.
"From our side, these ships will definitely not be welcome. No one is going to meet them with honor, but they will be sure to track their actions - by direct tracking, technically, from the air and space, " Komoyedov said.
"The Black Sea Fleet will have to increase the combat readiness, especially of air defense systems, individual duty forces, and organize a steady tracking of these ships," the admiral said.
"They've been visiting the Black Sea a lot. Too much already from this frequent presence. They observe the Montreux Convention, but there has never been such activity of ships of non-Black Sea countries, even in Soviet times, " Komoyedov said.
Since the beginning of the crisis in eastern Ukraine, ships of the US Navy and other NATO countries have regularly entered the Black Sea.
According to the Montreux Convention, the time spent by ships of non-Black Sea countries in the Black Sea is limited to 21 days.
On June 2, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said that the Russian military will closely monitor the preparation and conduct of major military exercises Sea Breeze in Ukraine with the involvement of NATO forces. According to him, about 4 thousand military personnel, 40 warships, boats and auxiliary vessels, 30 units of aviation equipment and more than 100 units of cars and armored vehicles will be involved in this exercise. Konashenkov then said that the Sea Breeze exercise will not actually be a sea exercise and goes far beyond the Ukrainian section of the Black Sea. Sea Breeze maneuvers will be held from June 28 to July 10.
