Russian envoy to NATO affirms continued responses to US military pressure

The United States exerted military pressure on Russia by deploying its destroyer Donald Cook near the westernmost Russian exclave of Kaliningrad last week, Russian Envoy to NATO Alexander Grushko said Wednesday. 

The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer made headlines after two Russian Su-24 Fencer tactical bombers flew close to the ship near a Russian base in the Baltic Sea. US military officials slammed the fly-by as reckless and unprofessional, while Russia maintained it was defending its national borders, Sputnik news agency said. 

Grushko, speaking to reporters after the first Russia-NATO Council in two years, reaffirmed that stance by posing a hypothetical scenario where a destroyer fitted with cruise missiles with a range of over 1,500 miles was stationed either in New York Harbor or the Gulf of Mexico.

The envoy stressed that the USS Donald Cook's deployment near Kaliningrad was an attempt to put military pressure on Russia. He asserted that Russia would continue taking "all necessary measures [and] precautions to compensate US attempts to use military force."

The United States expressed concern over the flyover incident through Washington’s defense attache in Moscow.

The US European Command (EUCOM) said the jets flew in a manner that resembled an attack and ignored safety advisories. According to the Russian Defense Ministry, the bombers swerved away from the US warship once it was identified.

Source: MENA