The Pentagon declined to comment on reports of the cancellation of the passage of two US destroyers through the Bosphorus to the Black Sea. This was reported on April 15 by RIA Novosti.
“We are aware of reports of ships, but for security reasons we are not discussing such operational details. We regularly work in the Black Sea and in many other areas throughout the region, ”said the Pentagon.
As Izvestia sources in the military department reported on April 14, the US Navy destroyers Roosevelt and Donald Cook suspended their movement towards the Black Sea. The ships changed their route and entered the island of Crete, where they spent the whole day.
Earlier, a source in the Turkish Foreign Ministry told RIA Novosti that Washington had notified Ankara about the passage of its two ships through the Bosphorus to the Black Sea, where they will stay from April 14-15 to May 4-5. According to Pentagon spokesman John Kirby, the operations of American warships in the Black Sea are “routine”, the United States is coordinating these actions with the Turkish authorities under the Montreux Convention.
On April 8, CNN, citing a source in the military, reported that the United States was considering sending warships to the Black Sea in the coming weeks to show its support to Kiev.
Later that day, the Pentagon did not confirm that the US was considering sending ships to the Black Sea.
Konstantin Zatulin, First Deputy Head of the State Duma Committee on CIS Affairs, said that the possible dispatch of US Navy ships to the Black Sea would not come as a surprise or cause for panic for Moscow, despite the fact that it is part of a general strategy of escalating tensions along the borders with Russia.