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US Spy Plane Enters Black Sea Area Amid Ukraine-Russia Naval Tensions – Reports

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - A Crete-based US spy plane entered the Black Sea area on Monday morning after a standoff between Ukraine and Russia over a strait that separates it from the Sea of Azov, the Ukrainian military portal reported.
Sputnik

The Boeing RC-135V reconnaissance plane left the US naval base at Souda Bay on Crete at 05:50 GMT and headed east, the portal said.

The electronic intelligence aircraft was reportedly in Bulgarian airspace as of 06:30 GMT and flying toward the Crimean peninsula, a Russian territory in the Black Sea.

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This comes after Russia detained three Ukrainian naval vessels on 25 November for entering its territorial waters on their way from the Black Sea to the Sea of Azov, a shallow internal sea the two countries share.

Russia’s FSB security agency accused the ships of ignoring warnings to stop and manoeuvring dangerously. Ukraine’s national security council responded by declaring a 60-day martial law, which still needs parliamentary approval.

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