Russia starts military drills in Black Sea
RUSSIA will act decisively if the United States undertakes any new “unfriendly steps” such as imposing sanctions, the Kremlin told Washington yesterday, a day after leaders of the two countries spoke on the phone, according to the RIA news agency.
The comments were made by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov who invited the U.S. ambassador in Moscow to talks following a phone call Tuesday between Putin and U.S. President Joe Biden, RIA said. The U.S. leader confirmed his intention to build stable relations with Russia and offered to hold a personal meeting in a third country in the coming months. The Kremlin said yesterday it will consider Biden’s proposal to hold a summit with Putin, the invitation that was being hailed in Moscow as a sign that Washington had blinked first in the showdown with Russia over Ukraine. Putin’s spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, told reporters that it is “early to talk about this meeting in terms of specifics.”
“This is a new proposal and it will be studied. There will be an analysis,” Peskov said. “Probably, you yourself can conclude that the conversation was quite long in time,” he added.
Putin and his American counterpart also discussed issues such as strategic security and arms control, the situation in Afghanistan and global climate change. According to RIA, the parties also discussed the situation in Donbass. Putin outlined approaches to a political settlement of the conflict based on the Minsk Protocol that was signed on Sept. 15. The presidents agreed to instruct the relevant departments to address the problems raised during the conversation. Meanwhile, Germany accused Russia yesterday of seeking provocation with its troop buildup along the border with Ukraine.
“My impression is that the Russian side is trying everything to provoke a reaction,” German Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer told ARD public television. “Together with Ukraine, we won’t be drawn into this game,” she added.
The growing Russian presence at the Ukrainian border has caused concern in the West in recent days, with the U.S. saying that troop levels are at their highest since 2014 when the war first broke out with Moscow-backed separatists. Moscow has said it sent troops to its western borders for combat drills because of “threats” from the transAtlantic alliance NATO. Russia started military drills yesterday, according to the information support department of the Black Sea Fleet, a Russian military unit in occupied Crimea. The frigate Admiral Makarov, small missile ships Grayvoron and Vyshny Volochek, missile hovercraft Samum, minesweeper Ivan Golubets, as well as large landing ships will take part in artillery firing at surface and air targets. The crews have already conducted training to overcome a conventional minefield. Earlier, Turkish diplomatic sources said Washington had notified Ankara about the passage of two U.S. warships, namely the Roosevelt and Donald Cook, through the Bosporus to the Black Sea, where they would be stationed from April 14 to April 15 and from May 4 to May 5, respectively.