Moscow Warns Of Prompt Response After US Sends Destroyer To Black Sea

Having sent not one but two aircraft carriers into the Mediterranean in what, as we reported yesterday, was meant to be a "clear message to Russia", the US decided to further antagonize Russia when on Monday it sent the US destroyer Porter in the Black Sea "for a series of drills with allies and forces of partner nations in what the United States called a routine deployment", the US Navy announced.  To be sure, the US Navy was quite clear about its intentions with these deployments: “It provides some needed presence in the Med to check…the Russians,” the official said. “The unpredictability of what we did with Truman kind of makes them think twice.”
The guided-missile destroyer, USS Porter
Well, as we said yesterday, "we expect Russia to respond promptly", and sure enough it did just that when earlier today the Russian Foreign ministry, cited by Reuters, said Moscow would respond to a U.S. naval ship's entry into the Black Sea with unspecified measures, saying it and other deployments were designed to ratchet up tensions ahead of a NATO summit, the RIA news agency reported. And this time, the US is not covering up behind some fake diplomatic pretext, and freely admits its intention is to fully antagonize Russia by sending a heavily armed vessel in what is the Russian equivalent to the Gulf of Mexico.

Russian state media reported that the USS Porter, a U.S. naval destroyer, entered the Black Sea a few days ago on a routine deployment, a move it said raised hackles in Moscow because it had recently been fitted with a new missile system. Of course, this is in addition to the two aircraft carriers already on location in the Mediterranean as the US is seemingly eager to dramatically escalate tensions with Russia, this time over sea.

"Of course, this does not meet with our approval and will undoubtedly lead to response measures," RIA cited Andrei Kelin, a senior Foreign Ministry official, as saying about the USS Porter's movements. He also said the deployment of U.S. aircraft carriers in the Mediterranean was a show of force which in his view deepened a chill in ties between Moscow and Washington caused by Russia's actions in Ukraine and Syria."

As regards the overall situation of course there is a definite increase and stoking of tensions in our relations," he was quoted as saying.

“There is nothing special about the movement of US vessels in this case. We know that aircraft carriers are moving in the Mediterranean Sea and elsewhere, they have a right to do so, this is freedom of navigation,” he said. “But in general, this is a definite increase in [Russia-US] relations and all this is done ahead of the NATO summit in Warsaw – this is a demonstration of force,” he added.

While we don't know what the "unspecified measure" that Russia will respond with is just yet, it is certain to provoke further escalation between the two military superpowers, which as covered extensively in the recent past, have also escalated in the nuclear arena to the point where security experts are warning that the "Risk Of Nuclear Dirty Bomb Is Rising On Poor US-Russia Relations."

Sadly, it increasingly looks like that just the first great depression ended in global conflict, war in some capacity is inevitable this time as well.

Source: http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-06-10/moscow-warns-prompt-response-after-us-sends-destroyer-black-sea