Russian presidential aide Nikolai Patrushev said on Thursday that the United States intends to establish logistics hubs in Black Sea countries in order to accelerate the supply of weapons to Ukraine and to deploy modern long-range weapons there.
Patrushev, formerly chair of Russia's Security Council, also said that Russia had thwarted plans by the US-led NATO alliance to establish a naval base in the Sea of Azov, but did not specify what period of time he was talking about.