Relevance: GS-2: Effect of policies and politics of developed and developing countries on India’s interests, Indian diaspora.
Key Phrases: Warship Moskva, barrage, naval cruiser, anti-ship cruise missiles, UAV attacks, stepping stone, Aegean, Mediterranean, shore-based, naval warfare, submarine, Sea of Marmara.
Why in News?
- The sinking of the warship Moskva, the 600-foot, 12,500-tonne flagship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet whether due to a Ukrainian missile strike or, as Russia claims, a fire on board is a serious setback for Russia.
Black Sea
- The famed water body bound by Ukraine to the north and northwest, Russia and Georgia to the east, Turkey to the south, and Bulgaria and Romania to the west, which links to the Sea of Marmara through the Bosphorus and then to the Aegean through the Dardanelles, has traditionally been Russia’s warm water gateway to Europe.
Significance of Black Sea For Russia
- Strategic Buffer Between NATO and Russia
- For Russia, the Black Sea is both a stepping stone to the Mediterranean as well as a strategic buffer between NATO and itself.
- Secures Economic Gateways
- Domination of the Black Sea region is a geostrategic imperative for Moscow, both to project Russian power in the Mediterranean and to secure the economic gateway to key markets in southern Europe.
- Important Trade and Transportation Artery
- The Black Sea is an important trade and transportation artery for Russia.
- Both Russia and Central Asian countries are highly dependent on the Russian port of Novorossiysk to export grain and oil by ship; this provides Moscow with useful leverage over land-locked Central Asia.
- Black Sea Fleet
- The Black Sea Fleet has a long history, and is considered to have been founded back in 1783.
- It comprises warships of the Russian Navy in the Black Sea, Sea of Azov, and the eastern Mediterranean, and is headquartered at Sevastopol, the major port on the Crimean peninsula.
- Although Crimea became part of Ukraine after the USSR collapsed, the Russian Navy continued to have its base in Sevastopol as part of an agreement between the two countries.
Black Sea in the Ukraine war
- Russia has been making efforts to gain complete control over the Black Sea since the Crimean crisis of 2014.
- During the ongoing invasion, the domination of the Black Sea has been a major Russian objective, along with the land bridge to connect Russia and Crimea.
- As such, there have been intense efforts to capture Mariupol, the Sea of Azov port in the breakaway eastern Ukrainian oblast of Donetsk.
- Recently Mariupol appeared close to falling to the Russians.
- Russia was also expected to focus its military efforts on Odessa, to the west of Crimea. If the Odessa region were to fall as well, Ukraine would lose access to its entire Black Sea coastline and would in effect be reduced to a landlocked country.
- That would be a devastating blow to the Ukrainian economy.
- The Odessa oblast has a muti-ethnic population wherein the Russians form the second largest group.
- It is also the largest region in Ukraine which serves as an important energy and transport corridor with abundant natural resources.
- The Rhine-Main-Danube canal connects the Black Sea to the Atlantic Ocean and the North Sea and the port of Odessa serves as a vital link between Ukraine and the outside world.
- The loss of the Moskva is, however, expected to put brakes on an anticipated amphibious assault on Odessa.
- But the tempo of its attack on all points along the Black Sea which are still under Ukrainian control will likely increase.
- This may be through rocket forces, aerial bombardment, or offshore ships launching cruise missiles.
Sinking of the Moskva
- Russian news outlets have described the Moskva as one of the Russian Navy’s biggest ships.
- It had been deployed by Moscow to the coast of Georgia during the 12-day war over South Ossetia and Abkhazia in August 2008, and to support Russian troops and equipment in Syria in 2015.
- After Russia invaded Ukraine in February, ships of the Black Sea Fleet, including the Moskva, fired a barrage of missiles into Ukraine, and blocked the country’s access to the Black Sea.
Conclusion
- The ship’s sinking marks a major turn in the war, hitting Russia both in terms of its military superiority and troop morale, while propping up the Ukrainian defense’s hopes of an unlikely victory.
- It was also the most significant combat loss for any navy since 1982, when Argentina’s air force sank a British guided missile destroyer and other ships during the Falklands War.
- The fact that the Moskva was sunk by shore-based anti-ship cruise missiles which took advantage of bad weather and used decoy UAV attacks to defeat the ship’s air defence systems demonstrates the success of outside-the-box measures adopted by Ukraine in the war.
Sources: Indian Express
Mains Question:
Q. Briefly discuss the strategic importance of black sea for Russia. (150 words).
