MOSCOW — About 3,000 troops from 19 countries are taking part in military drills in the Black Sea, an exercise that has raised concerns in Russia.
The 12-day Sea Breeze 2019 exercise, involving Ukraine, the U.S., a dozen other NATO allies and a few other nations, began Monday in the northwestern part of the Black Sea. It will involve 32 warships and 24 aircraft.
RELATED
:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/archetype/MT7SZPFJKZAG7DCLNHWSVI53N4.jpg)
The Russian military says it is monitoring the exercise.
Relations between Russia and the West have plummeted to post-Cold War lows in the wake of Moscow's 2014 annexation of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula and support for pro-Russian insurgents in eastern Ukraine.
RELATED
:quality(70):focal(522x199:532x209)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/archetype/2N2XET6HJ5ESFNEJQTDIAAVWTE.jpg)
Moscow has voiced concern about previous NATO’s drills near its borders, saying they threaten its security, while NATO allies have expressed worries about Russian military maneuvers.