Black Sea | Russia’s gateway to global waters

The Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca, signed on July 21, 1774, by the Russian and Ottoman Empires after the 1768-74 war between the two powers, was one of the most consequential treaties for the global balance of power in the 18th century — it marked the beginning of the decline of the Ottoman Empire and the arrival of the Russians, under Catherine the Great, as a major power in the Black Sea region. The annexation gave Russia seamless access to the Black Sea’s warm waters, helping its rise as a naval power. If Catherine’s annexation anchored Russia as a Black Sea power, Mr. Putin’s move, which came after the pro-Moscow elected government in Kyiv collapsed in the wake of the Euromaidan protests, allowed Russia to retain Sevastopol, which hosts its Black Sea fleet, and turn Crimea into a platform for force projection. As is evident from Russia’s military advances, expanding control over the Black Sea is one of the key military objectives of the Ukraine invasion. Despite Turkey’s control over Bosphorus and Dardanelles Straits, the 1936 Montreux Convention ensures that Russia and other Black Sea countries get access to the straits so that they can seamlessly move both commercial and military vessels in and out of the waters..