MOSCOW. April 15 (Interfax) - If the United States has actually changed its mind and decided not to send two guided-missile destroyers to the Black Sea, this is the right thing to do, former chief of the Russian Navy Staff Adm. Viktor Kravchenko (retired) told Interfax on Thursday.
"If this is so, this is the right thing to do. It looks like they have decided not to escalate tensions," Kravchenko said.
The United States might have chosen not to send the ships to the Black Sea after it received the warning from Moscow, Kravchenko said.
"I'd rather not use the word de-escalation. It's just that the United States has decided against sending the ships. I would not overestimate the significance of the presence of two U.S. ships in the Black Sea, either. Well, they would have arrived and then what? They would have moved around, would have rattled their weapons, and that's it. Ships of our Black Sea Fleet would have accompanied them. Our coastal missile systems would have locked them the moment they entered the Black Sea through the Bosporus," Kravchenko said.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said earlier that the United States had cancelled the deployment of its military ships to the Black Sea.
Unless the U.S. ships pass through the Dardanelles and Bosporus straits on Thursday, they would be able to request the passage again no earlier than 15 days from now, consistent with the Montreux Convention, he said.
The NTV channel said earlier with the reference to the Turkish Foreign Ministry that the United States had notified the Turkish authorities about two military ships crossing into the Black Sea later this week.
As Interfax reported, the U.S. navy destroyers USS Donald Cook and USS Roosevelt departed from the Rota naval base in Spain and headed to the Black Sea. The ships are armed with Tomahawk missiles operating at a range of 1,600 kilometers and the Aegis missile defense system.
The Turkish Foreign Ministry said that the ships would enter the Black Sea on April 14 and 15 and would stay there until May 4-5.
The Montreux Convention limits the presence non-littoral countries in the Black Sea to 21 days.
The deployment of U.S. Navy ships to the Black Sea is a regular operation, which is usually coordinated with Ankara within the framework of the Montreux Convention, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said on April 9.
The United States and European countries voiced concern about the deployment of Russian forces to the area near the Ukrainian border.