Ukrainian servicemen walk in a trench near the town of Zolot, Luhansk region, April 8, 2021. The area is a frontline post for Russian-backed separatists.
As violent clashes between Ukrainian government forces and separatist militias in the east heat up, the Russian military has increased its troops along the border, with Turkey saying on April 9 that it had received notification from the U.S. that it would send two warships to the Black Sea next week; Russia has criticized the U.S. for increasing naval operations in the zone by North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) countries that do not have a Black Sea coastline. For its part, the Pentagon said, “[Sending ships to the Black Sea] is nothing new.”
The 1936 Montreux Convention gives Turkey control over the Bosphorus Strait, the Dardanelles Strait, in and out of the Black Sea and the Mediterranean, limiting naval ship passage and regulating foreign cargo ships.
Turkey said on 9, the United States will deploy two warships to the Black Sea between 14 and 15. A statement from the Turkish Foreign Ministry said, “In accordance with the Montréal Convention, the U.S. side, through a diplomatic channel note 15 days ago, will deploy two warships through the Black Sea and is expected to stay until May 4.”
The U.S. Department of Defense would not respond to Turkey’s claims, saying only that the U.S. military is sending ships to the Black Sea as a routine mission.
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said, “(Sending ships to the Black Sea) is nothing new.” U.S. warships regularly operate in the Black Sea, and a cruiser and a destroyer were sent to the area late last month.
The Reuters report cited a witness who tracks ships passing through the Bosphorus as telling that the U.S. and NATO have indeed increased their presence in the Black Sea earlier this year since the inauguration of President Jow Biden. And the increase has reached levels seen during the Crimean War of 2014-2015.
Washington said Russia’s troop buildup on Ukraine’s eastern border has reached a size only seen since 2014, the report said. Russia sent troops to annex Crimea, formerly part of Ukraine, in 2014 and has supported pro-Russian separatist forces in the Donbass region of eastern Ukraine.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan accused Ukraine of “dangerous provocations” in the Donbass region in a phone call on Sept. 9.
Earlier, Biden spoke by phone with Ukrainian President Zelensky (Volodymyr Oleksandrovych Zelensky) to reaffirm the United States’ “strong support” for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. At the time, Russia warned the United States not to act rashly or it would be forced to respond.
The latest ceasefire agreement between Ukraine and Russia, coordinated by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, was reached last July, but fighting has escalated again since January, with 20 Ukrainian troops killed in action. Ukraine has accused Russia of massing thousands of troops on the country’s northern and eastern borders, as well as on the Crimean Peninsula, over the past week in an apparent attempt to intimidate.
Russian military analyst Pavel Felgenhauer has previously warned that even if the crisis between Ukraine and Russia does not turn into a world war, it could escalate into a European war, and that the West does not yet know how to handle the dispute, and that the Russian military could launch an attack on Ukraine during the Red Square parade in early May.
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