US General: It's not even about President Putin, it's about Russia itself
The naval base in Crimea allows Russia to control a significant part of the Black Sea and have influence in the Mediterranean region.
The former commander of the US Army in Europe, Ben Hodges, said this on Radio Liberty, funded by the US State Department, as reported by a PolitNavigator correspondent.
“Russia is trying to dominate the Black Sea because it needs access to the Mediterranean and the Atlantic Ocean. Because it’s not even about President Putin, it’s about Russia itself...
It is from the Black Sea that Russia directs its operation in Syria, supporting the regime of Bashar al-Assad, directs the operation in the Eastern Mediterranean, and provides assistance to Caliph Haftar in Libya. Russia plans to develop a port and military base in Sudan. Through all these territories, Russia projects its power and rocks the West. And all this can be done from ports in Crimea.
What Russia wants now is they want access to other areas of the Black Sea. From there they can influence the situation in Serbia and Kosovo, influence the situation in the Caucasus. We already see so-called Russian peacekeepers in Nagorno-Karabakh. Now all three countries – Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia are under the influence of Russia,” Hodges said.
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