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US show of force sends Russia a message in Black Sea
US show of force sends Russia a message in Black Sea
Washington (CNN)The
US Navy is ramping up its presence in the Black Sea as part of a bid to
counter Russia's increased presence there, a US military official tells
CNN.
It's a region
that has become increasingly fraught with tensions as Russia has
reinforced its military forces in the area following its seizure of
Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, a move rejected by the vast majority of the
international community.
On
Saturday the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Carney
joined the USS Ross in the Black Sea to "conduct maritime security
operations," according to a statement from the US Navy's 6th Fleet,
which oversees US naval operations in the region. It's the first time
two US Navy warships have been in the Black Sea since July 2017.
"Our
decision to have two ships simultaneously operate in the Black Sea is
proactive, not reactive," US Navy Vice Adm. Christopher Grady, the
commander of 6th Fleet, said in a release announcing the Carney's
arrival.
"We
operate at the tempo and timing of our choosing in this strategically
important region," Grady said, adding that "the continued presence of
the U.S. Navy in the Black Sea demonstrates our enduring commitment to
regional stability, maritime security of our Black Sea partners, and the
collective defense of our NATO allies"
On
Sunday Russia announced its own naval deployments to the area, with the
Russian Ministry of Defense issuing a statement saying that a Russian
frigate, the Admiral Essen, and two patrol ships had entered the Black
Sea for a series of exercises.
A US military official told
CNN that the decision to deploy both the Carney and the Ross to the
Black Sea was part of an effort to "desensitize Russia" to the presence
of US military forces in the Black Sea, which sits between Eastern
Europe, the Caucasus and Western Asia.
Two
US defense officials based in Europe told CNN that Russia is
particularly sensitive to US military operations in the Black Sea given
recent Russian moves to militarize Crimea.
US and NATO officials have accused Moscow of deploying large numbers of troops and military hardware to Crimea in recent years.
A
NATO official told CNN that Russia had deployed submarines to Crimea,
saying that while the Western alliance was not looking for a tit-for-tat
deployment of military assets to the region, NATO was strengthening its
position in southeastern Europe.
"Basically
anything new that they have they are putting in Crimea," a US defense
official based in Europe said of Russia's military activity.
The
official told CNN that Russia was "putting in the full panoply of their
weapons systems" in Crimea, saying Moscow had stood up a new Army Corps
there and was deploying "a lot of their new anti-access missile
systems, coastal defense, air defense" systems, in addition to the
ground troops.
Given Russia's
increased military presence, US officials say Moscow has become
increasingly sensitive to US forces in the region, fearing that US
military capabilities could undermine Russia's advantages.
Another
US defense official based in Europe told CNN that the Russians "are
very sensitive to our precision strike capability" as well as US
ballistic missile defense assets such as the Aegis Ballistic Missile
Defense System, which is deployed on both the Ross and Carney.
"You get ships up in the Black Sea, that makes them feel more threatened," the official added.
Officials
say that same Russian sensitivity explains why Russian aircraft have
appeared to perform more unsafe intercepts of US surveillance aircraft
in the area than they do in other areas.
US officials say the surveillance flights are necessary to better understand Russian military activity.
"Russia
is also not particularly transparent in what they do, which obviously
requires us to then be able to monitor them by other means, and
reconnaissance is one of those means," one defense official said.
An armed Russian Su-27 jet performed an unsafe intercept
of a US Navy E-P3 surveillance plane while it was in international
airspace over the Black Sea last month, flying within 5 feet of the US
military aircraft, according to the US Navy. A similar incident took
place in the skies over the Black Sea in November.
Following
the January incident, the US State Department issued a statement saying
that such unsafe actions "increase the risk of miscalculation, danger
to aircrew on both sides, and midair collisions."
The
Russian Ministry of Defense said the intercept was "in accordance with
international rules for the use of airspace" and that the Russian jet
had prevented the US plane from entering claimed Russian airspace near
Crimea.
A Europe-based US defense
official criticized Russia's attitude of ownership over the Black Sea,
noting that "NATO nations have more coastline by far on the Black Sea
than Russia does, so it's certainly not a Russian lake."
In
addition to Russia, the Black Sea is bordered by NATO members Turkey,
Bulgaria and Romania as well as NATO partners Ukraine and Georgia. NATO
has boosted its activity in the area as part of its "tailored forward
presence," which is headquartered in Romania, one of only six NATO
nations to spend 2 percent of its gross domestic product on defense.
Officials
say that given the heightened tensions and increased military activity
in the region it is important to increase the frequency of US activity
in the area and desensitize Russia to the presence of US military forces
there, helping to establish rules for how the two countries should
safely operate in proximity to each other, as they did in the Cold War.
"In
the Cold War we had a dance we did and everybody knew their roles in
the dance: You fly your bomber here, I'll fly my bomber there. You put a
ship here, I'll put a ship there," another US defense official in
Europe told CNN.
"I don't think
we've got to that level yet, and so we're still trying to figure out
what that dance looks like in the year 2018 versus what it was back in
the Cold War, and I think there are some growing pains, obviously," the
official added.
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