According to the publication, NATO activity in the Black Sea region has become less frequent since Moscow’s takeover of the Crimean Peninsula. The article has reached this conclusion by measuring the NATO vessels that crossed the straits. It stated that the data revealed challenges NATO’s rhetoric about a stepped-up presence in the Black Sea and says “the trend has gone in the opposite direction.”

According to the article, “The U.S. Navy has shouldered most of the burden for patrolling the Black Sea.”

The publication shows Istanbul-based ship-watching website Turkishnavy.net’s figures as the evidence to its claim and says, “U.S. ships spent about 210 collective days in the sea in 2014, a Stars and Stripes analysis of data from the Istanbul-based ship-watching website Turkishnavy.net found. Two years later, that number was about 58 days.”

The publication hints at how the U.S. can increase its presence in the Black Sea, “U.S. warships had not spent more than about 126 days in the sea annually since 2016 until last year when tensions rose along the Ukrainian-Russian border.”

According to the publication’s website, Stars and Stripes is part of the Pentagon’s Defence Media Activity. Pentagon funding makes up roughly half of Stars and Stripes’ annual budget.