The New Strategy Center presented on Wednesday 21 June the study “Strategic Nexus: The Black Sea, Great Power Competition, and the Russo-Ukrainian War”, conducted together with the US think tank Yorktown Institute. The event took place at the Army&Navy Club in Washington DC and brought together over 100 experts, analysts, academics, US foreign and security policy institutions and members of the diplomatic corps. Speakers at the event, dedicated to the strategic importance of the Black Sea region, were the Ambassador of Romania to the US, ES Andrei Muraru, George Scutaru, CEO of the New Strategy Center, Antonia Colibășanu, Senior Associate Expert at NSC and Geopolitical Futures geopolitical analyst, Gen.Lt. George Vlad, Deputy Chief of Defence Staff, Maj. Gen. Remus Bondor, Chief of the Strategic Planning Directorate of the Defence Staff, Admiral (ret.) Jonathan Greenert, former Chief of Naval Operations of the US Naval Forces. The discussion was moderated by Seth Cropsey, Director of the Yorktown Institute.
The study provides the audience with complex historical, military, political and economic explanations of Russia’s strategy in the Black Sea, as well as the interests of Russia’s partners such as China and Iran, the impact of the war in Ukraine on European and global security, the importance of ensuring freedom of navigation in the Black Sea, including from the perspective of food and energy security, and possible developments in the war in Ukraine.
The study advocates and makes the case for the adoption of a dedicated US Black Sea strategy, which would provide the certainty of a long-term US presence in the region, in the security interests of its allies in the region and NATO. The analysis explains the specific elements of the Black Sea, such as the Montreux Convention limiting the presence of non-Black Sea naval forces, the strategic importance of the Danube and underlines Romania’s important role and the fact that Romania is the most important ally on which the US can build its Black Sea strategy. The study also contains a series of recommendations emphasising the need for mobile naval capabilities, ISR (intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance) capabilities and anti-ship missile systems, so as to discourage an aggressive Russian naval policy and protect Romania’s economic interests in the Exclusive Economic Zone.
The study can be found HERE
The New Strategy Center thanks Leviatan for their generous support in supporting the project to produce this study and the presentation event.
Experts from the New Strategy Center are visiting the US in Washington from 20-23 June for a series of meetings and events aimed at presenting the strategic importance of the Black Sea region in the context of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and the need for the US Congress to pass the Black Sea Security Act, a bill aimed at developing a long-term US Black Sea strategy in multiple areas.