This is Vladimir Putin’s precious “Black Sea Key” to conquer more countries

While Russian President Vladimir Putin Attempting to redraw Europe’s borders, a pair of lawmakers on Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C. try to scrap the playbook before they can move forward with it.

Senator Jean Shaheen (D-N.H), chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Europe and Regional Security Cooperation, and Senator Mitt Romney (R-Utah), who serves on the same committee, will introduce legislation later Tuesday in Trying to conjure ways to confuse Putin.

Concerns circulate in the halls of Congress about whether the United States has done enough to prepare for and deter Russian aggression in Black Sea Regionso that Putin does not feel capable of hitting beyond Ukraine.

“As Putin continues his war in Ukraine, the United States must be prepared to meet the near- and long-term challenges he has created to the security of Europe and the United States,” Sahin told The Daily Beast. “This is exactly what our legislation seeks to do by looking at a critical geopolitical area: the Black Sea.”

Putin has always been interested in taking advantage of Russia’s access to the Black Sea in order to pass through other sovereign nations and erase their borders. Russia invaded Georgia, which borders the sea, in 2008 and annexed Crimea in 2014. Russia has been attacking Ukraine since 2014, and re-invading it again this year. But Senators Shaheen and Romney are banking on the idea that if the United States pays more attention to the Black Sea region and makes a concerted effort to support security concerns there, the United States may have an opportunity to thwart Putin’s advances on imperialism. Crusade across Europe.

Sahin told The Daily Beast that focusing on the Black Sea region is necessary to isolate Putin at the source.

“Control of access to the Black Sea is central to his delusional dream of building a Russian empire and the United States cannot allow that to happen,” she said.

The legislation from Shaheen and Romney, also backed by Senators Chris Coons (D-DE), Tom Telles (R-NC), Ben Cardin (D-MD), and Roger Wicker (R-MS), requires the US administration to develop a strategy Interagency to increase military assistance with NATO and the European Union and increase security assistance to Black Sea countries.

Romney told The Daily Beast that the Biden administration should step up and inject a strategy before it’s too late to prevent another Russian campaign.

“The Black Sea has become increasingly critical as Vladimir Putin continues to wage his gratuitous war in Ukraine, and it has become clear that the United States must have a strategy and presence in the region,” Romney said. “Our legislation aims to achieve this by requiring the Biden administration to develop a strategy to enhance coordination between the United States, NATO, and partners in the Black Sea in an effort to increase security, support economic prosperity, and advance democracy.”

Already, world leaders from around the world have raised concerns about this Putin is not only interested in going after Ukraine. Ukrainian President Zelensky warned only last month that Putin would not stop at his country.

Putin’s allies have hinted at themselves Bigger scenarios outside of Ukraine In which Putin is fighting far-reaching battles to achieve his goals Imperial fantasies. The speaker of Russia’s lower house of parliament warned last week that the United States should remember that Russia gave the United States Alaska in the 19th century and that Moscow could seek to get it back. Others suggested that Putin might compete with Poland, the United States or the United Kingdom

If the United States and its allies had stepped up and developed a heavier strategy in the Black Sea region in years, we might not have a Russian war in Ukraine right now, according to Ian Brzezinski, the former deputy assistant secretary of defense for Europe and NATO. Policy.

A more assertive policy is long overdue. “The failure of the United States and NATO allies to have a more robust defense of their interests in the Black Sea has already angered Russia and pushed Putin to become more aggressive,” Brzezinski told The Daily Beast. “He sees this as a sign of weakness and an opportunity to realize his vengeful regional ambitions.”

“We learn from Ukraine alone that the failure of a strong response to aggression invites Putin to further aggression,” Brzezinski added.

It’s not just about the possibility of future Russian attacks. Putin has already taken advantage of the Black Sea to his advantage, holding grain and wheat exports hostage through Ukraine’s Black Sea ports, potentially causing famine in Somalia, Kenya, Ethiopia and beyond, International Rescue Committee to caution.

Bill Taylor, the former US ambassador to Ukraine, told the Daily Beast that the United States does not have a comprehensive strategy toward the Black Sea region, and Russia’s aggression shows that we need to escalate it.

There is a political strategy that must all be put together. “We didn’t have it in coherent form, and we need it,” Taylor said.

Sahin said Russia’s blockade of Ukrainian ports shows how much better policy in the Black Sea region can help rein in Putin.

“We are already seeing the fallout from Putin’s move to that end by strangling key ports in Ukraine which has led to a global food crisis,” Sahin told The Daily Beast. “His hostility toward Ukraine today is reaping global consequences, which is why strategic action is crucial to thwarting those efforts.”

The proposed legislation would address more than just military action. This will require the administration to produce a report on democracy, security, and economic initiatives in the region, and new policy options for more assertive engagement there.

The strategy will include plans to increase NATO capabilities in the region, including ground and air forces, and military assistance specifically to Ukraine, Romania, Bulgaria and Georgia. The strategy will also include plans to improve coordination with NATO forces, better intelligence operations and systems to track Russian operations in the region, and help defend against hybrid warfare — including plans to support more independent media to counter Russian influence operations.

The National Security Council and other departments will be tasked with presenting a plan to speed up transitions away from old Russian military equipment, according to a draft text of the bill. The legislation would also begin an assessment of the establishment of a three-star multinational headquarters on the Black Sea to coordinate all military activities.

This will also require a breakdown of plans to reduce The region’s dependence on energy from Russiaan issue that has been left unresolved for years and has been a major flashpoint in the diplomacy surrounding Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in recent months.

The Pentagon is already beginning to determine what Shaheen and Romney should sign. General Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in April that the steps the Pentagon was taking in the region now should focus on two main goals: “Assuring allies and deterring any adversary — specifically Russia.”

Testifying on Capitol Hill in April, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin noted that Putin’s decision to go to war in Ukraine had forever changed the geopolitics of the region.

“This illegal and unjustified aggression by Putin has had the effect of altering the security architecture in the region for some time to come,” Austin said.