So, according to Alexei Podberezkin, it is impossible to exclude new military provocations against Russia from the participants in the Sea Breeze-2021 exercises.
The military exercises will start on June 28 and last until July 10. Podberezkin notes that the purpose of the exercises is a political declaration on the non-recognition of Crimea as Russian territory, and not just the coordination and development of some kind of interaction. On the air of Sputnik v Krym radio, a military expert said that “if they want to, this political declaration will be backed up by attempts to demonstratively violate borders”.
“To what extent these attempts will be undertaken and how to suppress it is a question, because the human factor is very strong”.
It is reported that about 5 thousand military and commanders will take part in the maneuvers. Also, 32 ships, 40 aircraft and more than 100 units of armored combat vehicles from 32 countries are involved. The exercises in 2021 will be the largest in history. Yes, the forces that will be involved in the exercises are not enough to initiate full-fledged hostilities, but they are quite enough for provocation.
Podberezkin is convinced that the increase in the number of soldiers and equipment taking part in the Sea Breeze is “a further step along the path of escalation”.
“The Americans have been following this path for the last five years, and the problem is that further on this path somewhere must cross the line of simply political use of military force into the direct use of this force. That is, it could be a military conflict”, – the expert says.
Nevertheless, the analyst stressed that there are enough forces and means in Crimea to stop any aggressive actions of the enemy. Alexey Podberezkin explains that in Crimea, air defense and missile defense systems control the entire air and space in the Black Sea region.
“These complexes cover everything up to the Bosphorus, every square meter is controlled. And from a purely military point of view, it would be unreasonable to open any hostilities. The hit of one Bastion missile is enough for this destroyer to simply split in half and sink in ten seconds”.