Russian militarization of Crimea as a threat to the security of the European Union.

Abstract

The article analyzes the Russia’s military buildup in the occupied Crimean and Sevastopol. It is proved that the Russian militarization led to a multifold increase in military forces and defense equipment on the peninsula, which is becoming a powerful military foothold. Russia has coastal missile defense systems that fully control the Black Sea, as well as layered air defense systems, by which Moscow closed the air zone over the peninsula, in Crimea. In addition to defense weapons, Russia increases the deployment of ships equipped with missiles with a range of up to 2,500 kilometers, threatening almost the whole of Europe, on the peninsula. Creating opportunities for the deployment of nuclear weapons on the peninsula radically changes the security situation in the Black Sea region and beyond.

Despite the growing threats to Europe due to the militarization of Crimea, the European Union continues to emphasize the need for cooperation with the Russian Federation.

The Russian annexation of Crimea drew the attention of NATO to the Black Sea and somehow changed its policy, which gradually moved to a strategy of deterrence against Russia. NATO increases the military presence in Eastern Europe and creates mobile super rapid deployment forces; it is planned to create Alliance naval, mechanized and aviation divisions, which are ready for deployment during thirty days.
But in general, the NATO policy has a limited number of adequate responses in case of further Russian aggression, especially with regard to the states of the Black Sea region, which is not as high-priority
as the Baltics.

The lack of an Alliance military strategy for the Black Sea region and difficulties in deploying the NATO fleet in the Black Sea due to the Montreux Convention remain the main problem.