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US NAVY SENDS WARSHIPS INTO RUSSIA'S GULF OF MEXICO' FOR FIRST TIME SINCE COLD WAR

Tyler Durdan

5-7-20

The US has decided that the right time to stage its first operations in the far northern Barents Sea since the Cold War is while itself and much of the globe remains locked down by a pandemic.

“U.S. Navy surface ships have not operated in the Barents since the mid-1980s,” US Naval Forces Europe said in a statement Monday announcing the start of operations there. “Allied and partner navies must remain proficient in all operating environments to ensure the continued security and access to the seas.”

Three destroyers — USS Donald Cook, USS Porter and USS Roosevelt — along with a combat support ship USNS Supply sailed through the sea just north of Finland and Russia, and within the Arctic Circle, in an area considered 'Russia's backyard'. The American ships were also joined by the United Kingdom’s HMS Kent.

Russian media underscored the Kremlin viewed the rare maneuvers as particularly provocative given "The Barents Sea is Russia’s equivalent of the Gulf of Mexico to the US, sitting between its major Arctic ports and the North Pole," as RT described it.

The US 6th Fleet additionally announced it demonstrates readiness to “assert freedom of navigation and demonstrate seamless integration among allies,” as well as to “maintain our steady drumbeat of operations across the European theater.”