PRESS RELEASE
Russian Su-24 Jets Force AEGIS-Equipped USS Ross Away from Russian Waters in Black Sea
May 31, 2015 (EIRNS)—Russian Navy Su-24 jets forced the U.S. Navy destroyer U.S.S. Ross away from Russian waters in the Black Sea into neutral waters in that sea, a source in Crimea’s security forces told RIA Novosti yesterday. The U.S. Navy ship was noticed heading directly toward Russian waters after leaving the Romanian port of Costanta.
"The ship’s crew acted provocatively and aggressively, which caused alarm among operators of monitoring stations and Black Sea Fleet ships carrying out assignments in the Black Sea. Scrambled Su-24 attack jets demonstrated a readiness to forcibly suppress border violations and defend the country’s interest,"
the source informed RIA Novosti.
The Black Sea incident is the latest in an escalating series of dangerous incidents, within a British-orchestrated atmosphere, setting NATO, and the U.S. principally, against Russia and China, which could provoke a war of nuclear annihilation.
The Ross is one of two AEGIS-equipped ballistic missile defense (BMD) destroyers—the other being its companion, the USS Cook—which are currently deployed in the region, being the integrated water-borne components of the NATO-U.S. BMD system with which NATO and the U.S. are encircling Russia. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg visited the USS Carney in Mayport, Florida, on May 29, which will be the next ship to cross the ocean, in September, to join the BMD mission. Stoltenberg praised the Carney deployment as "transatlantic teamwork." A fourth U.S. destroyer is being built that is scheduled to eventually join the other three.
The growth of the NATO BMD system and its increasingly obvious deployment against Russia caused the Russian Defense Ministry to express concern about it on May 29. NATO, it said, is going to be conducting an exercise in the Atlantic with the participation of eight countries, called "At Sea Demonstration-2015" which will simulate the interception of Russian ballistic missiles. Russian Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov recalled that "Statements of politicians and military chiefs of NATO countries on the adaptability of this [BMD] project have been forgotten, and the Russian concerns continue being ignored. Upon the [NATO] alliance’s initiative, the dialogue on the military and political issues, including the missile shield, has been scrapped."
