Russian naval forces present the US with a new challenge. That’s what US Admiral John Richardson said in an interview to the Financial Times on Sunday.

According to him, Washington is now considering to deploy more ships and other naval assets in Europe as well as boost its presence in the Pacific.

He added that the move comes amid mounting activity of Russian warships and submarines at levels – quote – “that were not seen in two decades”.

Admiral Richardson stressed that the US officials are largely concerned by data that Russian submarines are monitoring critical telecommunications cables on the Atlantic seabed.

Indeed, Moscow has been reported to step up much of its activity over recent months. Earlier, the head of the Russian Navy, Admiral Viktor Chirkov, stated that Russian submarine patrols have increased by 50 percent from 2013.

Expert on international relations Mark Sleboda spoke to Sputnik in an exclusive interview about this rising naval tension.

“The US itself is not a party to the UN Convention to the law on the sea. It is somewhat a disingenuous argument because China’s territorial claim to these reclaimed islands enforcing a military jurisdiction over a 12 nautical mile zone around them is in no way a threat to commercial traffic in the area. The US officials had themselves noted that they could have easily taken other paths.”
Sleboda further said, “This is a US military doctrine that demands that they have military access to all areas of the world at all times. Basically their zone of national interest is the world. They would like to retain the hegemony over the Pacific over these vital trade routes.”

He also mentioned that China is enforcing similar national interests, albeit in its own backyard and that is a big threat to US hegemonic doctrine.

Talking about the rising global tensions in the world Sleboda said, “I think we are already well inside of a new type of global confrontation whether one wants to call it a cold war or as I call it a ‘great power conflict,’ as it is more about national interests than about ideology. I think the main interest there is the increasing Sino-Russian relations not only, but in particularly in the military sphere…”

The expert added that this increasing development of relations between these two giants gives US geo-politicians nightmares. “They have no one to blame but themselves because their actions and intentions on both sides have pushed Russia and China together closer and closer over time.”

By Sputnik News