Russia’s seizure of Crimea ensured that Moscow could expand its naval capabilities throughout the Black Sea and into the Mediterranean, Matthew Bodner writes for Defense News. The Kremlin’s Black Sea Fleet was based and operated out of the Crimean city of Sevastopol. However, even under the leadership of pro-Russian former Ukrainian President Victor Yanukovych, the Black Sea Fleet was constrained by Kiev. “The Black Sea Fleet by 2010 had not been replenished with new warships for 25 years, and in fact [the fleet] had turned into a bunch of museum exhibits,” Mikhail Barabanov, an expert with the Center …read more
Source: Business Insider
