Russia Holds Black Sea Navy Drills With Eye On US Ships
NDTV
President Vladimir Putin said on Monday that Russian forces could observe the USS Mount Whitney navy command ship "through binoculars or in the crosshairs of its ... defence systems" and complained about NATO activity near Russia's borders.
Russia's Black Sea naval forces practised destroying enemy targets on Tuesday as Moscow bristled at the presence of two U.S. warships in the area.
President Vladimir Putin said on Monday that Russian forces could observe the USS Mount Whitney navy command ship "through binoculars or in the crosshairs of its ... defence systems" and complained about NATO activity near Russia's borders.
On Tuesday, the Black Sea fleet said its ships had rehearsed destroying enemy targets and that their air defence systems had been put on alert at its bases in Novorossiysk and on annexed Crimea, the Interfax news agency reported.
"They... destroyed airborne targets of a mock enemy with anti-aircraft missile weapons and artillery," it said in a statement.
