Wednesday, April 16, 2014

A US Navy destroyer in the Black Sea: "while the ship was conducting “routine operations” in international waters"

Officials at the Pentagon on Monday protested what they described as a provocative flyover by a Russian attack aircraft that hovered near a U.S. Navy ship for 90 minutes on Saturday.

A military official who was not authorized to speak on the record said the Russian aircraft, a Sukhoi Su-24, made “multiple close-range, low-altitude passes” near the USS Donald Cook, a guided missile destroyer, while the ship was conducting “routine operations” in international waters.

The ship had just entered the Black Sea, and its arrival there was celebrated in Kiev as a show of American support for Ukraine.

The crew aboard the American ship issued several queries to the aircraft using communication systems that are accessible to Russian military personnel. They went unanswered. The military official said the Russian plane appeared to have been unarmed.

“This was a provocative action,” the official said. “It is inconsistent with international protocols and what you would expect from a professional military.”"