The Kremlin said on Thursday that Russia would view any plan to establish a permanent presence of NATO warships in the Black Sea as a threat, given the alliance’s involvement in the conflict in Ukraine.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia would take all measures to ensure its security.
“Of course, the concentrated presence of NATO ships – We are paying attention to Romania and Bulgaria, the riparian states that are members of the alliance (NATO) – of course this represents, especially in the current situation, an additional threat to Russia,” Peskov told reporters. “Of course, Russia will take all necessary measures to ensure its own security,” he added.
Peskov made this statement after being asked by journalists at a conference about Volodymyr Zelensky’s new maritime security strategy. The Ukrainian president spoke about the need to ensure that the Russian navy does not dominate the Black Sea.
Russia’s last patrol ship has left the annexed Crimean peninsula, most likely being relocated to another Russian naval base to be sheltered from Ukrainian attacks, the Ukrainian navy said Monday.
Ukraine does not have any powerful warships, but it has compensated for this shortcoming with the help of maritime drones and missiles, which it has used intensively in attacks on Russian ships in the Black Sea fleet and on the infrastructure of this fleet whose headquarters are located at Sevastopol.
The commander of the Ukrainian naval forces, Vice Admiral Oleksii Neijpapa, told Reuters earlier this month that Russia was forced to withdraw almost all of its warships from Crimea to prevent further losses. He claimed that a total of 27 ships of the Russian Black Sea fleet were destroyed or damaged in Ukrainian drone and missile attacks. “The last patrol ship of the Russian Federation Black Sea Fleet is leaving our Crimea right now. Let’s remember this day!”, wrote, in a message published on Facebook, the spokesperson of the Ukrainian Navy, Dmytro Pletenciuk
The post New Kremlin threat: “We are paying attention to Romania and Bulgaria” appeared first on The Romania Journal.
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