Moscow Pulls Back Land Forces From Ukrainian Border but Not Its Navy in Black Sea
Publication: Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume: 18 Issue: 67
Russian ships in the Black Sea (Source: TASS)
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 acquire a more immediate dimension than many currently recognize because Russia has conspicuously not reduced its naval presence in the Black Sea. Instead, Moscow has announced new maritime exclusion zones around Crimea until the autumn, beyond those it earlier imposed in the Sea of Azov (Voennoe Obozrenie, April 24; Ekho Rossii, April 25). Russia justifies this move by saying that it plans to conduct military maneuvers there this summer, but the naval ships it is keeping in the theater ostensibly for those upcoming