The Biden administration plans to send warships to the Black Sea in the next few weeks to counter Russia’s increased military presence on Ukraine’s eastern border, according to a report on Thursday.
A Defense Department official told CNN that the Navy is sailing reconnaissance aircraft in international airspace over the Black Sea to monitor Russian naval movements.
They said moving the warships to the region would send a message of force to Russia and let the Kremlin know that the US was monitoring the situation.
And “if something changes, we will be ready to respond,” the official said.
Russia’s defense ministry has said it is moving more than 10 ships, including landing craft and artillery warships, from the Caspian Sea to the Black Sea to take part in military exercises, Reuters reported.
Ukrainian military officials also said Russia had deployed tanks and armored vehicles near the eastern Ukrainian border.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow could move its troops at its “discretion.”
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said in a briefing Wednesday that the U.S. Navy typically has ships in the Black Sea, and the United States has provided Ukraine with non-lethal and lethal weapons for its defense.
He also called on Moscow to “lower the temperature, to lower it.”
Under a 1936 treaty granting Turkey control of the straits to enter the Black Sea, the United States must announce its intention to move ships by 14 days.
The Russian military buildup has alarmed European leaders and prompted German Chancellor Angela Merkel to call on Russian President Vladimir Putin to withdraw troops and disqualify them.
The Biden administration has joined the international community in raising concerns about growing tensions between Ukraine and Russia.
In recent weeks, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Miller and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan have held talks with their Ukrainian counterparts.
The Russian navy conducted artillery exercises in the Black Sea and successfully hit targets off the Crimean coast, Russia’s Tass news agency reported on Thursday.
Russia annexed Crimea to Ukraine in 2014, resulting in sanctions imposed by former President Barack Obama and the European Union.
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