NATO says allied ships leaving Black Sea
Güncelleme Tarihi:
NATO said a group of four allied warships was leaving the Black Sea on Wednesday after exercises that coincided with Russia's conflict with Georgia and led Moscow to accuse the alliance of mounting a naval build-up.
"The Standing NATO Maritime Group One (SNMG 1) successfully completed its planned visit and is leaving the Black Sea today," NATO said in a statement.
The group consisted of a Spanish, German, U.S. and Polish frigate. They arrived days after the outbreak of hostilities between Georgia and Russia over the South Ossetia region in August, but NATO insisted the deployment had been planned over a year before.
The NATO statement said that Spanish "Juan de Bourbon", German "Lubeck", Polish "Pulaski" and U.S. "Taylor" war ships would continue military exercises in the Mediterranean.
NATO warships paid visits to Romanian and Bulgarian ports and participated in joint operations under the command of Spanish Admiral Juan Rodriguez Garat.
The warships did not stay in the Black Sea for more than 21 days based on the Montreux Convention.
Russia last month criticized what it called "the build-up of NATO forces in the Black Sea area" and said its own fleet there had taken measures to monitor alliance activity.