More than 1,600 navy troops will participate in a military exercise this week in Romania's Black Sea territorial waters, as well as in the international waters of the Black Sea, according to the the Romanian Ministry on National Defense.

The exercise which is named "Vectorul" is organized annually and aims at training Navy structures for their missions. The exercise was planned by Navy Staff a year ago, according to the ministry.

Military activity in the Black Sea region is more intense than ever as tensions rise in Ukraine. US destroyer USS Donald Cook just left the Black Sea at the end of April, after two weeks of military manoeuvres in which Romanian ships were involved as well. American frigate USS Taylor is still stationed in the region. French reconnaissance ship Depuy de Lome was also in the Black Sea in April.

The situation in the Black Sea region is tense, after Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula, which formerly belonged to Ukraine, at the end of February 2014. In the last couple of months unrest has engulfed eastern Ukraine spreading as far as Odessa, at the Black Sea, which is just 300 kilometers far from the Romanian port of Sulina.

editor@romania-insider.com