"Redistribution of spheres of influence": NATO will expand cooperation with Ukraine and Georgia in the Black Sea

NATO will provide additional support to Ukraine and Georgia. This was stated by the Secretary General of the organization Jens Stoltenberg. In particular, the members of the alliance will more often enter the Black Sea ports of these two countries, conduct joint exercises with them and exchange data with them.

“We agreed on a package of measures to improve our awareness of the situation, increase our support for Ukraine and Georgia in such areas as naval forces and coast guard training, as well as calls at ports, exercises and information sharing,” RIA Novosti quotes him.

Stoltenberg stressed that the alliance intends to "maintain its attention and presence in this vital region" due to the military gain of Russia.

Polish Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputovich noted that at the moment the decision to activate the Alliance in the Black Sea was taken only at the political level, the details are still being agreed.

“Usually the details are still coordinated. We are at the stage of (definition. - RT ) policy, political direction. And there is an understanding that the Black Sea is an important region, ”RIA Novosti quotes him.

Recall, the summit of NATO member countries, timed to the 70th anniversary of the North Atlantic Alliance, is being held in Washington from April 3 to 4. On the eve of the meeting, on April 2, the permanent representative of the United States with the organization Kay Bailey Hutchison told reporters that the alliance would adopt the so-called Black Sea package of measures.

“This is a package that enhances reconnaissance, including air, and involves the entry of a larger number of NATO ships into the Black Sea in order to guarantee for Ukrainian ships a safe passage through the Kerch Strait,” she said.

Russia has warned that NATO’s military maneuvers in the region will affect regional security.

“If additional military-technical measures are required on our part, we will take them. From a military point of view, we are, of course, ready for any possible turn in the field of military security in this region, ”said Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko.

“He sees his goal as the weakening of Russia”

The North Atlantic Alliance is used by the United States to put pressure on Russia, says Oleg Morozov, a member of the international committee of the Federation Council.

“The Alliance has long been a tool in the hands of one big power, which sees the weakening of Russia as its main goal today, the pressure on it is economic and political. Everything else is a private application to this big task. If Ukraine and Georgia did not exist, they would have to be invented, ”he told RT.

So, on the eve of the summit at the NATO Defense College presented three scenarios for the further development of the alliance - “good”, “bad” and “terrible”. In all three, there is a need to confront Russia.

According to Morozov, the contradictions in the Russian-Ukrainian relations are used to expand the military presence of the unit on the border with the Russian Federation.

“That provocation of Ukraine near the Kerch Strait was a reason to say: then we will enter the Ukrainian and Georgian ports, will increase its presence, will conduct joint exercises. All this is an element of a large strategy related to the redistribution of spheres of influence, the redistribution of forces in the world, and pressure on Russia, ”the senator added.

Recall the incident in the Kerch Strait occurred on November 25 last year. Three Ukrainian warships illegally crossed the border of Russia and entered the Russian territorial waters. They did not respond to requests from the FSB border service. The border guards had to use force - all ships, together with 22 sailors and two officers of the SBU, were detained.

At the same time, despite the emphasis on cooperation with Ukraine and Georgia, NATO does not intend to accept them into its organization, the political political scientist Andrei Koshkin, head of the department of political science and sociology of the PRUE named after Plekhanov, reminded.

“There is no doubt that the axis“ Georgia-Ukraine ”is the axis created by NATO in order to threaten, influence, influence Russia. The trouble is different - Georgia and Ukraine are rushing to NATO and are confident that they will receive a lot of benefits, respect and material benefits from this, and NATO is not in a hurry to accept them. This is contrary to their regulatory documents, ”he told RT.

Thus, according to the requirements of the alliance, a candidate country for membership in NATO should not have territorial disputes with its neighbors. At the same time, Georgia does not recognize the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, and Ukraine does not recognize the results of the referendum on the reunification of the Crimea with Russia, held in 2014.

At the same time, Stoltenberg does not consider the possible inclusion of these countries in NATO a provocation.

“Georgia and Ukraine are independent states that have the right to choose their own path. Even the idea that the aspiration of Ukraine and Georgia to NATO is a provocation against Russia is very dangerous. After all, if we start to consider this a provocation against Russia, then we will start to believe that Russia has the right to decide what its neighbors can and cannot do, ”he said.

"All ships will be accompanied"

Russia is ready to improve relations with NATO, but for every entry of the alliance ships into the Black Sea will be sent escort, said the captain of the first rank, military expert Vasily Dandykin.

“Relations between Russia and the alliance are in fact at a zero level. We do not refuse to negotiate, from positive steps. It will just be the combat readiness of the Black Sea Fleet, all ships will be accompanied ... There will be tasks for aviation, which is enough in the Crimea. This is all a working moment, as I was told in Sevastopol, for the Black Sea Fleet, ”he said in an interview with RT.

So, for the last time, NATO warships entered the Black Sea on March 28. Then the Dutch, Canadian and Spanish frigates of the second permanent naval group of NATO passed the Bosphorus to prepare for participation in the joint exercises with Ukraine and Georgia Sea Shield - 2019 (“Sea Shield - 2019”).

Alliance frigates accompanied the ships “Ivan Khurs” and “Vasily Bykov” of the Black Sea Fleet of Russia.

“The forces and facilities of the Black Sea Fleet took to escort a group of NATO ships that entered the Black Sea, consisting of three frigates of the Navy of the Netherlands, Canada and Spain. Monitoring the actions of NATO warships is carried out by the ships of the Russian Navy "Ivan Khurs" and "Vasily Bykov", - said in a statement issued by the Russian Defense Ministry on March 29.