NATO Black Sea drills destabilising: Russia

Moscow, July 2 (IANS) The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is purposefully destabilising the situation along Russia's border with the Sea Breeze 2021 military exercises, the Foreign Ministry in Moscow said.With the involvement of more than 30 countries and 5,000 military personnel, these exercises cannot be called "friendly" or considered regular drills but are clearly politically driven, Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said at a briefing on THursday."The Black Sea space is consistently being transformed by Washington and its allies from an area of cooperation into an area of violent confrontation," Xinhua news agency quoted the spokesperson as saying.While discussing the recent incidents in the Black Sea with British and Dutch warships, Zakharova explained that these activities were clearly coordinated."This demonstrates NATO's aggressive course towards Russia. The North Atlantic bloc is purposefully destabilising the situation along the perimeter of our borders and increasing the risk of armed incidents," she said.
--IANS ksk/