Up-Close NATO and Russian Exercises in the Black Sea

June 29, 2021 (EIRNS)—The U.S./Ukraine-led Sea Breeze 21 exercise is underway in the Black Sea. The Russians are watching it very closely. “The Black Sea Fleet is taking a package of measures to monitor operations by the ships of NATO and other countries participating in the Sea Breeze exercise, which began in the northwestern part of the Black Sea on June 28, 2021,” Russia’s national defense control center said in a statement yesterday, reported TASS.

To reinforce Moscow’s messaging, military units in Crimea carried out their own air defense exercise, involving about 20 aircraft assigned to the Black Sea Fleet. “Crews of the Black Sea Fleet planes and helicopters and an air force formation of the Southern Military District carried out training with divisions of S-400 missile systems and Panzir missile systems to test the combat readiness of the Crimean Peninsula’s alert force and air defense systems,” the Black Sea Fleet press service said in a statement TASS reported this morning.