US Navy Rear Admiral Scott Sciretta, in command of the NATO naval group deployed in the eastern Mediterranean, assured this Thursday that this device maintains “effective deterrence” of Russian forces and that, if it were to move to a new phase, “he would be ready to fight tonight”.

The command ship of the NATO group SNMG2, the USS James e Williams, arrived today at the naval base of Rota (Cádiz), to participate from June 5 to 16 in the most advanced exercise organized by the Spanish Navy , the Flotex 23, in Western Mediterranean Waters.

Rear Admiral Scott Sciretta of the US Navy will participate in these exercises by commanding the USS James and Williams and three other NATO units, one Canadian, one Spanish and one Italian. They will participate in maneuvers involving more than 4,700 soldiers, 19 ships, 2 submarines, 16 aircraft and 80 marine infantry vehicles, from the Spanish Navy and other countries such as France, Greece, Latvia , Portugal and Turkey.

During a meeting with the press on his arrival at the naval base of Rota, Scott Sciretta underlined the effectiveness of the NATO maritime unit deployed in the eastern Mediterranean, made up of six ships under his command. A maritime force joining other NATO air, submarine and land forces in the region.

Its maritime unit has achieved throughout this year “an effective deterrent force”. “We spent a lot of our time monitoring and controlling the Russian forces carrying out their operations in the eastern Mediterranean,” he explained.

“We believe that our presence there has helped to thwart Russian influence. From the high number of units they had a few years ago, in recent months their activity has been reduced to a few units,” a- he commented.

He praised the “leadership” of Spain, which participates in this NATO unit with the frigates Juan de Borbón and Cristobal Colón.

“The importance of the Alliance has never been more critical than at this time,” the command stressed, referring to the war situation between Russia and Ukraine.

The Rear Admiral stressed that NATO was assessing “what is the best possible way to help Ukraine”.

The NATO command assured that his country, the United States, is “very grateful” to Spain for the agreement to welcome two new American destroyers, which will be added to the four already existing, to reinforce NATO’s anti-missile shield.

Listen live to COPE, the radio of the most popular communicators. If you wish, you can download the COPE app to iOS (iPhone) And android.

And remember, at COPE you will find the best analysis of the news, the keys of our communicators to understand everything around you, the best stories, entertainment and, above all, those sounds that you will not find anywhere else .