Washington, March 7 (RHC)-- Amid simmering tensions between Washington and Moscow over the crisis in Ukraine, U.S. Navy officials say a U.S. guided-missile destroyer which is en route to the Black Sea has been sent there on a “routine” deployment.

According to the U.S. Navy, the USS Truxtun departed the Greek port of Souda Bay on Thursday for joint training with Romanian and Bulgarian forces.

Despite the U.S. Navy’s assertion that the move is a “routine” deployment, it comes one day after the Pentagon announced plans for expanding aviation training in Poland and sending more F-15 fighter jets to police the skies over Baltic states.

Tensions between the U.S. and Russia have intensified over the recent crisis in Ukraine. On Thursday, US President Barack Obama signed an executive order to impose sanctions against individuals whom the White House said are “responsible for or complicit in threatening the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine.”