Russian Defense Minister claims increased presence of foreign navy in Black Sea

"It is not our fleet that regularly floats here and there off the coast of San Francisco, but their fleet in the Black Sea. Moreover, there are fleets and ships of non-regional countries. And it has become a regular occurrence, it has become almost constant," Shoigu told Russia's Rossiya 1 television channel.

The minister said that the Russian navy normally shadows the foreign military ships upon their entry to the Black Sea waters.

Shoigu further decried the fact that a number of foreign media tried to frame it as if the Russian naval forces acted unprofessionally when doing so, while everything they did was out of the responsibility to "do everything to ensure that nothing threatens their country," he said.

The Black Sea has become an area of increased tensions recently, chiefly due to Turkey's assertive drilling activities.

Last week, Ankara discovered a massive field of natural gas in the Black Sea and insisted that the exploration for hydrocarbons in the area was its sovereign right.

Turkey's drilling activities in the Eastern Mediterranean have already soured its relationship with the European Union, in general, and Greece and Cyprus, in particular, both of which have claimed that Ankara crossed into their exclusive economic zones.

Tensions exacerbated last month as Turkey intensified the drilling closer to the Greek border, ignoring the calls to leave the disputed waters.