"NATO will do everything possible... to help the Kiev regime... put pressure on Turkiye so that it finally shares the position of Washington and Brussels [regarding the Black Sea],” Vasily Dandykin, retired Captain 1st rank of the Russian Navy, told Sputnik.
“They will discuss how to force [Russia] to leave Crimea, and, accordingly, leave new territories [Kherson, Zaporozhye, Donbass], and leave... the Sea of Azov, which we now completely control."
How did the Black Sea become a focal point of NATO war planners?
The Black Sea region forms a nexus between Eastern and southeastern Europe, Russia, the Caucasus and the Middle East. It is key to regional trade, with about 1.7 million TEUs of loaded containers processed in the region in 2022. It also serves as an energy distribution hub for oil and gas coming from Russia, the Middle East and Central Asia.
NATO's takeover of the Black Sea – a gateway to the Mediterranean Sea, Suez Canal, Africa and the Middle East – is also part of the bloc's long-term strategy of containing Russia and imposing a strategic defeat on it.
In 2004 the alliance absorbed Black Sea coastal states Bulgaria and Romania, while in 2008 it pledged to admit Ukraine and Georgia.
Since the 2014 coup d'etat in Ukraine, NATO has beefed up its presence on Ukraine's Black Sea shores and in the Sea of Azov. But Crimea's reunification with Russia foiled NATO plans to build military bases there.
Since February 2022, NATO has reinforced its eastern flank and started to build a new base near the Black Sea port of Constanta in Romania — which could put Russia’s Crimea and Krasnodar regions and the Azov Sea within the alliance's striking range.
In response, Russia is enhancing its readiness and military presence on the Black Sea.