MOSCOW. July 1 (Interfax) - The Russian Black Sea Fleet is tracking NATO naval ships, which are involved in the Sea Breeze 2019 drills, the Russian National Defense Control Center said on Monday.
"For the purposes of an urgent response to possible emergency situations in the Black Sea the Black Sea Fleet's forces and means are performing the set of measures to control the actions of NATO navy ships in the Black Sea during the Sea Breeze 2019 naval drills," the National Defense Control Center said in the statement.
The Russian military said that the NATO drills had started in the north-western part of the Black Sea on July 1. Naval ships and aircraft of the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Italy, Turkey, Poland, Norway, Bulgaria, Greece, Romania, Denmark, Latvia, Estonia, and their allies the United Arab Emirates, Sweden, Ukraine, Moldova, and Georgia are involved in the maneuvers, it said.
The Russian military has deployed Bal and Bastion coastal anti-ship missile systems during the drills in Crimea and on the Caucasus coast of the Black Sea, the Russian Black Sea Fleet said earlier on Monday.