The government in Ottawa speaks of an “unnecessary provocation”: At least one Russian military aircraft should have circled a Canadian frigate in the Black Sea several times. Moscow rejects the allegations.
Canada reports an incident with Russian aircraft during a NATO exercise in the Black Sea. Two Russian fighter jets and a surveillance aircraft are to the frigate “HMCS Toronto” umhergeschwirrt, the Canadian Defense Minister Rob Nicholson said Monday, according to the news agency AP. The agency AFP reported from a Russian military aircraft.
This was an “unnecessary provocation,” Nicholson said. Although the aircraft had shown no threat, the incident threatened the tensions in the region but “to escalate”.
Units of the Canadian Navy take since Monday attended the three-day “Sea Breeze” maneuvers in the Black Sea, to the participating among other troops of the United States and
Ukraine. Canada’s participation in the mission show the commitment of Ottawa’s “Peace and Security in Central and Eastern Europe,” said Nicholson. The NATO mission was “a direct result of military aggression and invasion of Ukraine by the regime (Vladimir) Putin”, the Russian President. Nicholson called on Moscow to “stop thuggery” be.
Moscow rejected the Canadian allegations: The Russian news agency Itar-Tass quoted Major General Igor Konaschenkow. He said that there had been two planes that were traveling on a routine flight in the area, without having the foreign ship approached.
In Canada we had set to provocations before the maneuvers in the Black Sea. “They will play cat and mouse with us as long as we are there,” citing the Canadian newspaper “The Globe and Mail” a unspecified source of the military.
Moscow had criticized the maneuvers “totally inappropriate” near the crisis area of eastern Ukraine as. The leadership in Moscow moved the Russian missile cruiser “Moskva” into the Mediterranean. Moreover, a large maneuvers in close proximity to the crisis region, the Russian Navy in parallel through also.
For Russia in the Black Sea are about 20 warships and fighter-bomber type Sukhoi Su-24 and attack helicopters in use, said the defense ministry in Moscow. Also testing of cruise missiles were planned.
After months of fighting, agreed on Friday ceasefire in eastern Ukraine proved despite all protestations of peace between the conflicting parties as brittle. The Interfax news agency reported, citing the head of the military Sanitätsdiensts Ukraine, despite the ceasefire in eastern Ukraine, four soldiers were killed in recent days in clashes with pro-Russian militias. 29 other Ukrainian soldiers were injured.
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