By Alexandra Odynova
Producer
CBS News
Tension between Russia and the West has escalated further this week, with Russia staging more military exercises in the Black Sea and massing thousands of forces at Ukraine’s border. In a clear sign of cooling relations, the United States’ ambassador in Moscow confirmed he was leaving the country for “consultations” back in the U.S.
Over 20 Russian vessels took part in the latest exercises along with Su-25SM3 attack aircraft, as part of a check of the fleet’s forces, Russia’s Black Sea Fleet said on Tuesday.
Russia also announced that it was closing the airspace over parts of Crimea and the Black Sea, saying the areas had been “declared temporarily dangerous for aircraft flights,” Russia’s Interfax news agency reported on Tuesday, citing an official notice sent to pilots.
Troops at the Ukrainian border
Over 100,000 Russian forces have massed on Ukraine’s border and in Crimea, the office of European Union foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell said after a briefing by Ukraine’s foreign minister.
Crimea is the peninsula that was unilaterally annexed away from Ukraine by President Vladimir Putin in 2014. His government now considers it Russian territory, and while the U.S. and Europe have refused to acknowledge the takeover, the Russian military has firm control over the outcrop of land in the Black Sea.
“It’s the highest military deployment of Russian army in Ukrainian borders ever,” said Borrell. He initially said Russia had massed over 150,000 troops in the region, but his comments were later corrected without elaboration.