Great Satan US destroyer en route to Black Sea

Amid simmering tensions between Washington and Moscow over the crisis in Ukraine, US Navy officials say a US guided-missile destroyer which is en route to the Black Sea has been sent there on a “routine” deployment.

According to the US Navy, the USS Truxtun departed the Greek port of Souda Bay on Thursday for joint training with Romanian and Bulgarian forces, AFP reported.

“While in the Black Sea, the ship will conduct a port visit and routine, previously planned exercises with allies and partners in the region,” the US Navy said in a statement.

Despite the US Navy’s assertion that the move is a “routine” deployment, it comes one day after the Pentagon announced plans for expanding aviation training in Poland and sending more F-15 fighter jets to police the skies over Baltic states.

Tensions between the US and Russia have intensified over the recent crisis in Ukraine.

On Thursday, US President Barack Obama signed an executive order to impose sanctions against individuals whom the White House said are “responsible for or complicit in threatening the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine.”

During a speech at the White House on Thursday, Obama also said a referendum proposed by the parliament of Ukraine’s autonomous republic of Crimea over the future of the region “would violate the Ukrainian Constitution and violate international law.”

He made the remarks after MPs in Crimea voted in favor of joining the Russian Federation and holding a vote in 10 days time so that Crimean citizens could give their views on the status of the region.