Russian military jets and US destroyer clash in Black Sea 'posing danger to stability'
Moscow accuses American warship of 'acting aggressively'
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Russia has scrambled military jets in response to an American navy destroyer which, it has been reported in Russian media, was acting “aggressively” in the Black Sea.
The Russian defence minister, speaking at a security summit in Singapore, said US missile ships operating near Moscow’s territorial waters “pose a danger to strategic stability” between the two countries.
State news service RIA Novosti quoted a military source as saying the USS Ross was sighted heading straight for Russian waters after leaving the Romanian port of Costanta on Saturday.
“The crew of the ship acted provocatively and aggressively, which concerned the operators of monitoring stations and ships of the Black Sea Fleet,” RIA reported.
“Scrambled Su-24 attack aircraft demonstrated a readiness to forcibly prevent border violations and defend the interests of the country,” the source was quoted as saying.
In a statement, the Pentagon’s spokeswoman Eileen Lainez confirmed the incident but said that the USS Ross had been “well within international waters at all times, performing routine operations”.
“The US Navy operates routinely in the Black Sea, in accordance with international law," Lainez said, adding that the ship’s deployment to the region had been publicly announced.
Sputnik News, Russia’s state service for international news, quoted a military source as suggesting the US ship had turned away following the incident, and boasting: “It seems that the Americans did not forget the April 2014 incident when one Su-24 actually shut down all equipment on the new USS Donald Cook American destroyer with anti-missile system elements.”
The clash is the latest example of military encounters between Russia and Western militaries, as tensions continue over the Ukraine crisis.
Earlier in May, both Britain and Sweden said they had scrambled fighters to intercept Russian bombers near their territory. Last month, the US said it was filing a complaint to Russia over a “sloppy” and unsafe interception of a US reconnaissance plane in international airspace over the Baltic Sea.
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments