U.S. Troops Land in Latvia amid Ukraine Crisis

Latvia on Friday welcomed American troops on its soil, part of a U.S. force of 600 sent to the region to reassure the Baltic states amid concern over Russia's actions in Ukraine.

"Today is a special day because this morning I met the heads of the armed forces at the Adazi military base and greeted the U.S. military unit that arrived this morning for military training," Latvian Prime Minister Laimdota Straujuma told reporters.

Some 150 troops from the 173rd Airborne Brigade will be based at the Adazi base near capital Riga until at least the end of the year, according to the Latvian defense ministry.

Another company of soldiers arrived in Poland on Wednesday, while around 150 others are each expected in Lithuania on Saturday and Estonia early next week.

Washington on Tuesday said it was sending the 600 troops to the region to increase its presence in the region and reassure its NATO allies and partners.

Estonian Prime Minister Taavi Roivas, who was visiting Latvia on Thursday, welcomed the gesture, saying: "We are strong together".

"I am glad that today our allies arrived here on Latvian soil and this shows that the NATO alliance is there for us," he said after talks with Straujuma.

Later on Friday, the U.S. guided missile destroyer USS Donald Cook left the Black Sea, two weeks after it was deployed there to reassure Eastern European allies worried by the Ukraine crisis, the Navy said Friday.

The presence of the warship, which departed on Thursday, was an "example of the U.S. Navy's commitment to enhancing interoperability at sea, serving as a cornerstone of NATO's military strength, while demonstrating the U.S. and allied forces' capability to provide the right presence, in the right place, at the right time."

Word of the Donald Cook's departure came as Kiev accused Moscow of seeking to trigger a "third world war."

During its stint in the Black Sea, the destroyer carried out exercises with the Romanian navy, as well as with the American frigate USS Taylor.

In an incident that heightened tensions already inflamed by Russia's actions in Ukraine, a Russian fighter jet made a dozen passes at low altitude near the destroyer on April 12.

The Pentagon denounced the move as "provocative and unprofessional."

The U.S. naval presence in the Black Sea will now consist of the USS Taylor, a Navy spokesman confirmed to AFP.

The vessel was deployed to the Black Sea during the Winter Olympics in the Russian resort of Sochi amid concerns about possible terror attacks at the massive international sports event.

However, it had to undergo repairs in the Turkish port of Samsun after running aground there on February 12 as it was preparing to moor. It returned to the Black Sea on Monday.

Earlier this month, Moscow claimed Turkey had allowed the USS Taylor to stay longer in the Black Sea than permitted under international law -- a claim Ankara dismissed.

According to the 1936 Montreux Convention, warships from countries that do not border the Black Sea cannot stay there for more than 21 days.