Russia has planned the special operations well. At present, fighting is intense in and around Sea of Azov. After annexing Crimea, it is corollary for Russia to get total control of Azov, which at present is shared as a lake between both Ukraine and Russia. Why fight for the shallowest sea of the world? Read for more:
Peaceful Azov Sea began to rattle when Ukraine locked horns with Russia by hobnobbing with NATO. All these started with Euromaidan of 2014 that brought colour revolution which was later morphed into rightist government bent upon wrecking relations with Russia. Putin moved fast and annexed Crimea in that year. Stung by this and the fact that Russia built the Crimean bridge to connect the peninsular with Russian hinterland, Ukraine converted Berdyansk washed by Azov Sea as a port of call for Ukrainian navy and pursued it more by adding army battalions in the entire stretch along the Azov coast.
Testing the nerve of Russia, Ukraine despatched two naval vessels from Odessa to Mariupol passing the Kerch strait. Not to be outdone Russia responded seizing 3 naval ships that arrived later at the Kerch Strait to enter into the Azov Sea. The flint that made the big fire was the incident when HMS Defender of British Navy transgressed Russian territorial waters inviting warning shots fired from hovering Russian aircrafts. Russia followed suit this time in the Eastern Ukraine where restive oblasts Donetsk and Luhansk were encouraged to rebel. The rest is history.
On the face of it, hostilities in and around Azov Sea appears to be political and military. True enough, there is big military dimension. But there is more to it than meets the eye: Underpinning of Russian business strategy that seeks to possess monopoly in terms of grain and steel. Eastern Ukraine is the granary of the East. It has vast areas under cultivation. In addition, the region is heavily industrialised with steel mills, chemical factories, coal mines and processing plants. Their output is exported via Berdyansk and Mariupol, ports in the Azov Sea.
The Crimea annexation gave Russia Sevastopol, Yalta and Kerch and bringing the rest of the ports under Russian control definitely would be coup de grace!
Cheers!
Muthu
Ashraff Rajulu
Business Strategist
Mobile: + 94 777 265677
E-mail: cosmicgems@gmail.com
Blog: Business Strategist
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