The Russian Navy’s Ropucha class Kondopoga landing ship passes through the Bosphorus on its way to the Black Sea in Istanbul, Turkey April 17, 2021. REUTERS / Yoruk Isik
Two Russian warships transited the Bosphorus on their way to the Black Sea on Saturday and 15 smaller ships completed a transfer to the sea, while Moscow is strengthening its naval presence at a time of strained relations with the West and Ukraine.
The consolidation coincides with a huge build-up of Russian troops near Ukraine, which Moscow calls a temporary defensive exercise and a escalation of fighting in eastern Ukraine between Russian-backed separatists and Ukrainian government forces.
Russia’s relations with Washington, which canceled two warships of its own in the Black Sea last week, following Russia’s Russian protests, are at an all-time low after the Cold War.
Moscow on Friday expelled 10 American diplomats in retaliation for the expulsion of the same number of Russian diplomats from the United States due to the alleged malicious activity.
Russia has also temporarily restricted the movement of foreign warships “and other state ships” near Crimea, which it annexed from Ukraine in 2014, a measure condemned by both Kiev and Washington.
Two Ropucha-class landing craft in Russia’s Northern Fleet, capable of carrying tanks and delivering armor and troops during coastal assaults, transited the Bosphorus on Saturday, a Reuters reporter in Istanbul saw.
Several Russian naval reinforcements in the form of two more landing ships, this time from the Russian Baltic Fleet, are expected to transit the Bosphorus imminently.
The RIA news agency also reported on Saturday that 15 smaller ships in the Caspian Fleet in Russia have completed their transfer to the Black Sea as part of an exercise.
In another sign of rising tensions in the region, a ship carrying logistics trucks and equipment for NATO forces in Romania transited the Bosphorus on Friday night, the same Reuters reporter saw.
In St. Petersburg, the Russian security service of the FSB briefly detained a Ukrainian diplomat, the Ukrainian foreign ministry said on Saturday. L1N2MA04O
Interfax news agency previously quoted the FSB as saying that Oleksandr Sosoniuk was taken into custody when he tried to obtain classified information from Russian law enforcement databases during a meeting with a Russian citizen.
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