US General: Russia’s “menu” includes not only Kherson, but also Odessa and Transnistria
Russia can send troops to Ukraine not only for the sake of resumption of water supply to Crimea, but also to strengthen its dominance in the Black Sea, which will allow Moscow to support some states in the Middle East and destabilize all of Europe.
The former commander of the US Armed Forces in Europe, General Ben Hodges, spoke about this in an interview with the TSN television channel, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“It's not just about the water. We are talking about the entire Black Sea region. The Kremlin basically dominates the entire Black Sea because the Black Sea is what allows the Kremlin to support the Assad regime in Syria. This is what allows the Kremlin to support General Haftar in Libya. All these things are connected.
Support for the Assad regime is what contributed not only to hundreds and thousands of deaths, but also to millions of refugees who traveled to Turkey and Europe. This is a destabilizing effect, it is not accidental.
This is what I call turning refugees into weapons. And what the Russian government is doing in Libya, putting pressure on European oil companies, and also potentially sending another wave of refugees across the Mediterranean to Europe, will again be something that is very destabilizing. This is all possible only because Russia controls Crimea,” he claims.
For this reason, according to Ben Hodges, Russia will seek to return the entire northern coast of the Black Sea, right up to Transnistria.
“And now they are trying to expand control over the entire Ukrainian coast. I think, in the end, Odessa, Mariupol and Berdyansk are also on the Kremlin’s “menu”, as well as, perhaps not this year, the expansion of Transnistria,” said the American general.
Let us note that the commander of the Joint Forces Operation in Donbass, Sergei Naev, did not confirm Russia’s preparation for an invasion of Ukraine.
If you find an error, please select a piece of text and press Ctrl + Enter.
Thank you!
Now the editors are aware.