“Now the United States and its & nbsp; NATO & nbsp; allies are conducting unplanned & nbsp; & mdash; I want to emphasize this: unplanned & nbsp; & mdash; exercises in the & nbsp; waters of the Black Sea. And not & nbsp; just formed a fairly powerful ship group, but & nbsp; and & nbsp; is used in & nbsp; these exercises and & nbsp; aviation, in & nbsp; including strategic aviation & raquo;, & nbsp; & mdash; Putin said in an & nbsp; interview on & nbsp; on the Russia 24 TV channel.
“ The point is & nbsp; is that & nbsp; they have on & nbsp; board & nbsp; & mdash; combat strategic weapons. This is a big challenge for & nbsp; us & raquo;, & nbsp; & mdash; said the head of state.
The Ministry of Defense & nbsp; RF proposed to conduct unplanned exercises in the & nbsp; Black Sea in & nbsp; response to & nbsp; US actions, but & nbsp; this is impractical & nbsp; & mdash; there is no point in aggravating the situation, said Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“ I must say that & nbsp; from our Ministry of Defense there was a proposal, too, & nbsp; to hold its own unplanned exercises in this & nbsp; same & nbsp; water area. But & nbsp; I believe that & nbsp; this is not & nbsp; advisable and & nbsp; there is no need to further escalate the situation there & raquo;, & nbsp; & mdash; Putin said in an & nbsp; interview on the & nbsp; air of the Russia 24 TV channel.
Therefore, he noted, the Russian Ministry of Defense “ is limited only to escorting aircraft and & nbsp; ships.