[PRESSTV] The United States is planning to add Ukraine into the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A collection of multinational and multilingual and multicultural armed forces, all of differing capabilities, working toward a common goal by pulling in different directions...
) as part of its plan to encircle Russia, an American political analyst says.
Keith Preston, director of the Attackthesystem.com, made the remarks while discussing Washington’s decision to provide an additional $10 million in military aid to Ukraine.
Announcing the decision on Friday, the US State Department said the money would be used to boost its naval capability, after Russia seized three Ukrainian navy ships off the coast of Crimea in the Sea of Azov last month.
The Sea of Azov is a strategic ocean route linked to the Black Sea by the narrow Strait of Kerch where Russia has built a bridge to link the Crimean Peninsula with the mainland.
Tensions escalated earlier this year after Ukraine detained two Russian ships for port calls on Crimea, which rejoined Russia in a 2014 referendum.
The move prompted Russia to increase patrols off its Azov coast to guarantee free navigation by Russian ships.