Russian President Vladimir Putin described the military maneuvers carried out by the United States and NATO in the Black Sea on Monday as “provocation” during a telephone conversation with his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, the Kremlin reported.
During his conversation with Macron, Putin referred to the “provocative nature of the large-scale maneuvers carried out by the United States and some of its allies in the Black Sea, which reinforce tensions between Russia and NATO,” the Kremlin said in a statement. .
The Russian president appeared to be referring to the participation of several US military vessels in maneuvers in the Black Sea that Moscow said last week it was “monitoring” and that Putin called a “serious challenge.”
His statements come in a context of growing tension over the conflict in Ukraine, a country that borders the Black Sea.
The situation in this region has been very tense since Russia annexed the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea in 2014. For more than seven years, Ukraine has been in conflict with pro-Russian separatists in the east of its territory.
The United States and the European Union have expressed concern about the recent deployment of Russian troops on the border with Ukraine.
In a telephone conversation with Putin on Monday, Macron expressed his “willingness to defend the territorial integrity of Ukraine,” according to the French presidency.
