*Read Part One. Earlier this year, Moldovan President Maia Sandu initiated a national pedagogical effort to convince a skeptical populace to take national security and defense seriously and accept higher budget expenditures for this sector (see Part One, October 13). The new National Security Strategy,... MORE

On October 11, President Maia Sandu unveiled Moldova’s new National Security Strategy, an inter-agency product of the country’s Supreme Security Council and other relevant government institutions. The document assesses Russia’s agenda in the region as posing direct threats to Moldova’s aspirations to join the European... MORE

Russia has turned much of the Black Sea into a buffer zone against Western powers and, simultaneously, a power projection platform against Ukraine. Acting from seemingly impregnable positions in the Black Sea basin, Russia uses its air power to support its land war against Ukraine—in... MORE

Addressing the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) and UN Security Council (UNSC), Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy strongly emphasized Ukraine’s goal to regain all of its Russian-occupied territories, including Ukraine’s territorial waters in the Black Sea (Un.org, September 19, 20). Concurrently, Zelenskyy cautioned against any land-for-peace... MORE

*Read Part One. The Kremlin offered Turkey several major, highly attractive business projects at the bilateral summit in Sochi on September 4. These would further increase Turkey’s reliance on Russia in key economic sectors and on Russian-generated revenues (see Part One). By the same token, it... MORE

Russian President Vladimir Putin has sternly rebuffed his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyp Erdogan’s ambitions to play peacemaker in the Russo-Ukrainian war and partially ease Russia’s blockade of Ukrainian grain exports. Receiving Erdogan in Sochi on September 4, Putin made clear that he had no use... MORE

Ukrainian naval combat drones are demonstrating rapid improvement in their technical characteristics (see EDM, November 8, 2022, June 2, 13). Ukrainian-made drones (uncrewed submerged, semisubmersible or surface vehicles; USVs) have struck several significant Russian targets in close sequence in recent weeks. This unprecedented series of... MORE

On August 13, a warship of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet executed a board-and-search operation of a Turkish freighter that was passing through Bulgaria’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) en route to Ukraine to load grain. The Russian crew fired warning shots from automatic weapons to intimidate... MORE

*Read Part One. *Read Part Two. The current absence of Western naval powers in the Black Sea marks a sharp break with the history of their steady presence. This new situation, now in its 20th month, stems from two separate but harmonized decisions: that of... MORE

*Read Part One. Just as it eschewed declaring war on Ukraine—proclaiming, instead, a “special military operation”—Russia never officially announced a naval blockade of Ukraine. A declared blockade accompanying a declared state of war would have enabled Russia to, however abusively, stop and search any commercial... MORE