US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland said she would support the establishment of a regular rotational presence of NATO forces in the Black Sea.
“I personally have been in favor of this for a long time. As you know, NATO, like the United States, has a regular schedule of exercises,” said Ms. Nuland, answering a relevant question at a hearing in the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee of the Congress.
After Crimea became part of the Russian Federation, Moscow began to deploy “a wide variety of advanced weapons” on the peninsula, the American diplomat noted. In this regard, the Russian Federation has the opportunity to block some parts of the Black Sea. Ms. Nuland called it “unacceptable” for the US.
On February 24, NATO countries set in motion the alliance’s defense plans, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said earlier. On the same day, the Russian army launched a special military operation in Ukraine.
Read more about the situation in Ukraine in the Kommersant online broadcast.