Russian military jets and US destroyer clash in Black Sea ‘posing danger to stability’

For more background on the USS Donald Cook incident and how the Russians shut it down, please click HERE.

 

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.

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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.”

Full article: Russian military jets and US destroyer clash in Black Sea ‘posing danger to stability’ (The Independent)