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Latest Articles about Crimea
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Russia Bungles Pre-Planned Intercept of UK Navy Vessel off Coast of Crimea
A shooting skirmish or a deadly collision between Russian and Western warships or aircraft in the Black Sea would almost certainly cause a serious crisis, evolving into a military confrontation, a regional armed conflict and, perhaps eventually, a global war. Such a doomsday scenario appeared... MORE
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Crimea’s Nuclear Potential: A Return to Soviet Practices
On April 12, amid escalating tensions along the Ukrainian border, Ukrainian Defense Minister Andriy Taran expressed concern that “Crimea’s infrastructure is being prepared for potentially storing nuclear weapons” (Radio Svoboda, April 14). Even though Taran did not supply evidence for this claim, it is plausible... MORE
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Moscow to Drill for Fresh Water Under Azov Sea, Not to Help Crimea But to Back Its Claims
Moscow has announced it will begin drilling for fresh water under the Sea of Azov this summer to address growing water shortages in occupied Crimea, a project President Vladimir Putin called for, with surprisingly limited fanfare, at the end of last year (Aif.ru, May 4,... MORE
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Role of Airborne Troops in Russia’s Military Buildup in Crimea
At the end of each winter training cycle, the Russian Armed Forces typically hold extensive readiness checks in the month of April. So unsurprisingly, on April 6, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu announced that the Russian military would carry out 4,048 such snap exercises at 101... MORE
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Crimea: The Expanding Military Capabilities of Russia’s Area Denial Zone in the Black Sea
Two important and connected developments in the second half of April—military exercises in Crimea (RIA Novosti, April 22) and the wider growing tensions with Ukraine—cogently reiterated the military-political importance to Russia of this illegally annexed peninsula. Since 2014, Moscow has been heavily investing in building... MORE
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Declared Russian Troops Pull Out: Did the Kremlin Achieve What It Wanted?
Russia’s long-serving minister of defense, Sergei Shoigu, announced last week (April 22) that the Russian forces massed around Ukraine’s eastern and southern borders would withdraw between April 23 and May 1 (TASS, April 22; see EDM, April 22). Moscow had dubiously asserted that this massive... MORE
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Moscow Pulls Back Land Forces From Ukrainian Border but Not Its Navy in Black Sea
Many observers are treating Russia’s pullback of land forces from the Ukrainian border as the end of the crisis—even some of those experts who acknowledge the Kremlin has not given up its aggressive posturing against Ukraine (Voennoe Obozrenie, April 25). Yet that belligerent stance may... MORE
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Russia Effectively Seizes Control of Sea of Azov, Threatening Ukraine
The international community has focused on Moscow’s buildup of forces on land adjoining Ukraine, concerned that such a concentration of Russian military power will be used against its neighbor (see EDM, April 8, 15, 19). But as Moscow routinely insists, it has the right to... MORE
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Demographic Transformation of Crimea: Forced Migration as Part of Russia’s ‘Hybrid’ Strategy
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s Decree No. 201 came into effect on March 20, 2021. The executive edict adds Crimea and Sevastopol to “the list of Russia’s border territories where foreign citizens, stateless persons, and foreign legal entities cannot own land.” As such, non-Russians, including Ukrainian... MORE
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Crimea Platform: Ukraine’s Initiative to Raise the Costs of Russia’s Occupation
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the Ukrainian government are preparing to host a summit of heads of state and government, aiming to mobilize a more effective international response to Russia’s seizure of Crimea from Ukraine. The summit is planned to inaugurate the “Crimea Platform,” a multi-level... MORE