Russia’s new warning area in the Black Sea is within Bulgaria’s exclusive economic zone and poses new risks for miscalculations and escalation, Nato said in a statement following a meeting of the Nato-Ukraine Council.

Russia has pulled out of the agreement on transportation of Ukrainian grain and warned that any commercial ship in certain Black Sea areas would be considered as a threat and transporting weapons.

Russia’s warning also creates serious impediments to the freedom of navigation, Nato warned.

“Russia bears full responsibility for its dangerous and escalatory actions in the Black Sea region. Russia must stop weaponising hunger, and threatening the world’s most vulnerable people with food instability. Russia’s actions also pose substantial risks to the stability of the Black Sea region, which is of strategic importance to Nato. Allies are stepping up support to Ukraine and increasing our vigilance. We remain ready to defend every inch of Allied territory from any aggression,” Nato’s Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said in the statement.

In response to Russian actions, Nato is stepping up surveillance and reconnaissance in the Black Sea region, including with maritime patrol aircraft and drones.

“Since last year, in response to Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, Nato has significantly increased its presence in the region, including with two new multinational battlegroups in Bulgaria and Romania,” the statement noted.

Nato and Ukraine strongly condemned Russia’s decision to withdraw from the Black Sea grain deal and its “deliberate attempts to stop Ukraine’s agricultural exports on which hundreds of millions of people worldwide depend”.

Turkey is trying to restore the agreement with Moscow but so far without success.