US Hosts NATO Drill in Waters Off South America
Venezuelan Foreign Minister Rejects
US-Colombia Naval Exercises
Ana Luisa Brown / Prensa Latina
(March 2, 2022) — Venezuelan Foreign Minister Felix Plasencia on Wednesday rejected the recent joint naval exercises carried out in the Caribbean Sea between the navies of the United States and Colombia.
On his Twitter account, the minister described these maneuvers as a threat to peace and stability in Latin American and the Caribbean.
According to official sources, the military drills took place last weekend within the scope of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), as part of the partnership agreements signed between the Colombian Government and the intergovernmental alliance.
On board the Colombian frigate ARC Independiente, Colombian Minister of Defense Diego Molano informed that the United States participated in the exercises with a nuclear submarine, the USS Minnesota.
In this regard, Plasencia accused Colombia of yielding to NATO’s warmongering policy and to the imposition of “an anachronistic Cold War agenda, which they now intend to bring to Latin America and the Caribbean with hostile naval exercises involving nuclear submarines,” he noted.
“We regret that a government presiding over the United Nations Conference on Disarmament carries out such provocations in a region with a solid position of principles against the proliferation of nuclear weapons,” the head of Venezuelan diplomacy stressed.
In the 2021, 32 countries joined Ukraine in contested Russian waters.
Forgotten Provocations:
Multinational Naval Drills Kick Off In Black Sea
After Incident Between Russia And UK Destroyer
(June 28, 2021) — Nearly two weeks of multinational naval exercises are set to begin in the Black Sea amid warnings from Russia that it will respond to challenges in contested waters off Ukraine after an incident with a British warship last week.
The annual Sea Breeze exercise runs from June 28 through July 10 with the participation of 32 countries.
Most Black Sea nations, NATO allies, and partners are joining the exercise, providing 5,000 troops, 32 ships, 40 aircraft, and 18 special operations and dive teams.
This year, Ukraine and United States are co-hosting the exercise involving sea, land, and air components.
The drills across the Black Sea region come after Russia claimed on June 23 that it fired warning shots and dropped bombs in the path of the British destroyer HMS Defender to force it to change course from the area near the Crimean city of Sevastopol.
Britain’s Defense Ministry denied that the HMS Defender had been fired upon, saying that Russia was carrying out a previously announced “gunnery exercise” in the area. Britain said it was practicing freedom of navigation in Ukrainian and international waters.
In response to the incident, Moscow warned it was prepared to fire on warships entering territorial waters it claims around Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula, which Russia seized in March 2014 in a move not recognized by most of the international community.
The Russian Embassy in Washington has called on the United States and its allies to avoid military exercises in the Black Sea, saying such maneuvers “increase the risk of unintentional incidents” and embolden Ukraine.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said last week that the incident with the British destroyer showed that Russia’s “aggressive and provocative policies” in the Black Sea and nearby Azov Sea constituted a “continuous threat to Ukraine and its allies.”
Kuleba called for more cooperation in the Black Sea between NATO and Ukraine, which aspires to join the alliance.
With reporting by Reuters. Posted in accordance with Title 17, Section 107, US Code, for noncommercial, educational purposes.
