USS Porter arrives in Varna, Bulgaria for a scheduled port visit, June 8, 2016. Photo credit: U.S. Navy
This week's entry of a U.S. naval ship into the Black Sea would force Russia to take unspecified “response measures”, a senior Russian Foreign Ministry official has said.
“Of course, we do not approve of this and, undoubtedly, it will lead to response measures," Russian news agency RIA Novosti quoted the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry's European Cooperation Department, Andrei Kelin, as saying on Friday.
United States guided-missile destroyer USS Porter had arrived in the Bulgarian Black Sea port of Varna for a scheduled visit earlier this week.
The ship’s entry into the Black Sea, which the U.S. Havy had described as a routine deployment, has annoyed Moscow as the vessel had recently been equipped with a new missile system, according to Russian media reports.
Kelin also described as a “show of force” the entry of U.S. aircraft carrier USS Harry Truman into the Mediterranean earlier this week, ahead of next month’s NATO summit in Warsaw, Poland.
"As regards the overall situation, there is a certain increase in tensions” in relations between the United Stares and Russia, Kelin added, according to RIA Novosti.