Russian amphibious ships in Black Sea exercise raise more questions about Putin’s intentions

BY ALISON BATH • STARS AND STRIPES • FEBRUARY 8, 2022

From right to left, Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman, the Italian aircraft carrier ITS Cavour and the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle transit the Mediterranean Sea in formation, Feb. 6, 2022. Allied ships were shadowed by their Russian counterparts, NATO officials said. Six Russian amphibious ships are now entering the Black Sea for a naval exercise, according to Russian reports. (Bela Chambers/U.S. Navy)

NAPLES, Italy — Six Russian amphibious assault ships participating in Black Sea drills could play either a decisive or a diversionary role should the Kremlin mount a new invasion of Ukraine, naval analysts said.

On Tuesday, three of the six ships began their transit into the Black Sea in preparation for the drills, the Russian news agency Tass reported. The remaining three ships will follow suit Wednesday, according to Tass, which described the scale of the exercise as “massive.”

There did not appear to be any U.S. or NATO ships in the Black Sea on Tuesday, according to the Istanbul-based ship-watching website turkishnavy.net.

But on Friday, the Navy issued an account order for all active-duty and reserve personnel, dependents and naval civilian employees in Ukraine, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Belarus, Moldova, Romania, Slovakia, Hungary, Estonia and Bulgaria.

Russia has denied that it plans to invade Ukraine, but it has massed more than 100,000 troops along the country’s borders. Moscow forcibly annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in 2014 and backs separatist groups in eastern Ukraine.

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