Washington: The US warship Porter entered the Black Sea on July 19 to take part in an annual NATO exercise, days after Russia placed its Black Sea forces on alert.

Sea Breeze 2020 is co hosted by the United States and Ukraine and involves more than 2,000 personnel from Bulgaria, Georgia, Norway, Romania, Spain and Turkey.

It will run through July 26 and focus on warfare areas such as air defence, anti-sub warfare, damage control and search and rescue, according to a Navy release.

The exercise will take place exclusively at sea to help mitigate COVID-19, the release said.

Russia scrambled an Su-30 fighter on July 17 to intercept an RC-135 reconnaissance aircraft, a P-8 Poseidon and a KC-135 aerial refuelling aircraft, said Russian authorities.

Porter’s arrival comes after Russia’s Black Sea Fleet and units elsewhere conducted a “snap combat readiness check,” Russia’s state-run news agency TASS reported on July 17.

For Moscow’s Black Sea-based forces, that check involved warships, combat aircraft and more than 3,000 personnel, TASS said.

“During the exercise, the ships’ crew made their urgent preparation for a battle and practiced withdrawing the main forces from a notional enemy’s strike,” the fleet’s press office told TASS.

This will be the third trip into the Black Sea this year for Porter, which is based in Rota, Spain, according to the Navy.

Russian jets have also intercepted US aircraft over the Black Sea and across the region in recent years.