The Navy announced Thursday it was sending a guided-missile destroyer to the Black Sea amid the crisis in Ukraine.
{mosads}The move comes a day after the Pentagon decided to send six additional F-15s to Poland, to reassure NATO allies after Russian forces moved into the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea.
The Navy said in a statement that the deployment was “routine” and planned before the crisis unfolded.
“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 statement said.
The USS Truxtun left the Greek port of Souda Bay on Thursday to carry out joint training with Romanian and Bulgarian forces, the Navy said.
The Truxtun is part of the USS George H.W. Bush aircraft carrier strike group, which is currently operating in the Mediterranean Sea.