ANKARA: The United States will send two warships to the Black Sea next week, Turkey said on Friday as Russia, which has boosted its military forces near Ukraine, accused Nato powers, which do not have a coast line in the region, of increasing naval activity.

The Pentagon declined to discuss Turkey’s comments, but said the military routinely sends ships to the region. “That’s not anything new,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said in Washington.

Washington says Moscow has amassed more troops on Ukraine’s eastern border than at any time since 2014, when it annexed Crimea from Ukraine and backed pro-Russian separatists in the eastern Donbass region of Ukraine.

Published in Dawn, April 10th, 2021