Özet:

The article analyses Russia’s particular actions aimed  to alter the strategic balance in the Black Sea region in her favor. The 2008 war with Georgia and the increasing Russian presence in Abhazia, South Ossetia, Armenia, and Transnistria, in addition to the geopolitical quake(upheaval) that followed the Crimea annexation and the conflicts in Donbas supports our view. In assessing the military balance, a thorough comparison  is made between the Russian Black Sea Fleet and that of Turkey, that shows the latter’s superiority. The military balance is further tilted in Western favor, if one adds the naval forces of the other Black Sea countries, that are NATO members. This conclusion leads the author to stress the hypothesis  of a Western/NATO plus USA domination of the region. Militarization, however, is self-destrutive, as it leads to higher security risks. In conclusion, several positive measures are proposed in order to minimize those security risks in the Black Sea region and to ease the tensions between the West and Russia.

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