MOSCOW, April 9 (RIA Novosti), Daria Chernyshova – American warships in the Black Sea are likely delivering armaments for the rusting Ukrainian military, according to Vadim Kozyulin, a senior research fellow at the Russian Center for Policy Studies.
“I suspect these warships are delivering armaments for the Ukrainian military, as it remains in a poor technical and financial condition,” Kozyulin told RIA Novosti on Wednesday, a day before a second US destroyer was scheduled to enter the Black Sea.
“The US is probably delivering communication equipment and reconnaissance assets to the Ukrainian military,” Kozyulin said.
The USS Donald Cook will join the USS Tuxtun, whose stay in waters bordering Russia was extended to “conduct drills” with Romania and Bulgaria.
“The US continues its policy of pressuring Russia. It continues to build up its military in the region. However it remains just a demonstration of power. The US wants to say it is powerful and two warships represent just a part of its arsenal,” Kozyulin added.
Moreover, the expert said the situation increasingly resembled a Georgia scenario, referring to the US training and supplying the Georgian army in the lead up to the country’s 2008 war with Russia.
“The Georgian army was armed to the teeth, so the US is doing the same with Ukraine,” Kozyulin said.
“The methods and strategies the US is using remain the same, and we will see more parallels with Georgia soon,” he explained.
A Russian military source told RIA Novosti on Wednesday that the Donald Cook, an Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer, had no plans to make any port calls.
The ship departed for the Black Sea from Spain and is equipped with the Aegis fire control system and Tomahawk subsonic cruise missiles.
The White House said last week the guided missile destroyer USS Truxton would extend its deployment in the Black Sea.
Moscow has already noted that the US warships have exceeded the length of stay permissible under an international convention governing the presence of naval vessels in the region, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said last Thursday.
