NATO countries begin annual military exercise in the Black Sea – Albanian forces among them!
Military personnel from 12 NATO countries began an annual Romanian-led naval exercise in the Black Sea and the Danube Delta this week. More than 2,300 troops are taking part in the so-called "Sea Shield" exercise, which aims to strengthen cooperation between allied naval, air and land forces.
1,600 Romanian troops are participating along with 11 partner countries: Albania, Bulgaria, Canada, France, Greece, Italy, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Spain, the United States and Turkey.
The exercise was first organized in 2015. Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 has made it increasingly important, and the Romanian Naval Forces describe it as the "most complex event" it conducts.
The key role of the Black Sea in Russia's war against Ukraine
The Black Sea is a tightly enclosed and relatively small sea that includes the adjacent waters of the countries surrounding it: Turkey to the south, Bulgaria and Romania to the west, Georgia to the east, and Ukraine and Russia to the north. Control of the waters adjacent to the Black Sea has been contested for centuries and has played a role in the current Russo-Ukrainian war.
Russia's seizure of the Crimean Peninsula in 2014 allowed it to control the seaport of Sevastopol. What were once Ukrainian waters became de facto Russian waters. Control of these nearby waters allowed Russia to disrupt Ukrainian trade, particularly grain exports to distant African waters.
But Russia's actions were thwarted by the cooperation of Romania, Bulgaria, and Turkey to allow cargo ships to pass through their nearby waters, then through the Bosphorus into the Mediterranean Sea.
Efforts to limit Russia's control over Ukraine's near-shore waters in the Black Sea, and Russia's unwillingness to deal with the consequences of attacking ships in waters near NATO countries, meant that Ukraine was still able to access distant waters for economic gain and keep Ukraine's economy afloat.
On March 25, the US announced it had proposed a ceasefire agreement for Ukraine and Russia to “eliminate the use of force” in the Black Sea after talks in Saudi Arabia. But the partial ceasefire in the Black Sea that could allow for safer shipping has fallen foul of the conditions set by Kremlin negotiators.
"We consider quite seriously the models and solutions proposed by the Americans, but we cannot accept them all as they are ," said Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov.
Moscow is holding up an agreement to facilitate shipping in the Black Sea in order to "stymie efforts toward a general ceasefire and extract additional concessions from the West," according to an assessment Monday by the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War.
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