Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), chairwoman of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Europe and Regional Security Cooperation, and Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT), who serves on the same committee, are introducing legislation later Tuesday in they are trying to devise ways to further trap Putin. Concerns buzzing through the halls of Congress center on whether the United States has done enough to prepare for and deter Russian aggression in the Black Sea region so that Putin does not end up feeling empowered to strike further beyond Ukraine. “As Putin continues his war in Ukraine, the United States must be prepared to address the immediate and long-term challenges he has created for European and US security,” Shaheen told the Daily Beast. “This is exactly what our legislation seeks to do by addressing a critical geopolitical region: the Black Sea.” Putin has long been interested in leveraging Russia’s access to the Black Sea to bypass other sovereign nations and obliterate their borders. Russia invaded Georgia, which borders the sea, in 2008 and annexed Crimea in 2014. Russia has been attacking Ukraine since 2014, invading again this year. But Senators Shaheen and Romney are banking on the idea that if the United States pays more attention to the Black Sea region and makes a concerted effort to address security concerns there, the United States may have a chance to block the advance of Putin on his imperialist crusade in Europe. Focusing on the Black Sea region is necessary to cut off Putin from the source, Shaheen told The Daily Beast. “Controlling access to the Black Sea is fundamental to his delusional dream of building a Russian empire, and the United States cannot allow that to happen,” he said. Shaheen and Romney’s legislation, also sponsored by Sens. Chris Coons (D-DE), Thom Tillis (R-NC), Ben Cardin (D-MD) and Roger Wicker (R-MS), would require the administration to develop an interagency strategy to increase military assistance with NATO and the European Union and increase security assistance to the Black Sea countries. The Biden administration needs to step up and advance a strategy before it’s too late to prevent another Russian campaign, Romney told the Daily Beast. “The Black Sea is becoming increasingly critical as Vladimir Putin continues to wage his unprovoked war in Ukraine, and it has become clear that the United States must have a strategic presence in the region,” Romney said. “Our legislation aims to achieve this by requiring the Biden administration to develop a strategy to strengthen coordination between the US, NATO and partners in the Black Sea in an effort to increase security, support economic prosperity and promote democracy”. Already, world leaders from around the world have expressed concerns that Putin is not just interested in going after Ukraine. Ukrainian President Zelensky warned just last month that Putin would not stop with his country. Putin’s allies hint at larger scenarios beyond Ukraine, in which Putin takes on more distant battles to fulfill his imperialist fantasies. The speaker of Russia’s lower house warned last week that the United States should remember that Russia gave the United States Alaska in 1800 and that Moscow could seek to take it back. Others suggested that Putin could face Poland, the United States or the United Kingdom If the United States and allies had developed a more heavy-handed strategy in the Black Sea region years ago, we might not be facing a Russian war in Ukraine now, according to Ian Brzezinski, former deputy assistant secretary of defense for Europe and NATO . Policy. “A more dynamic policy is long overdue. The failure of the United States and its NATO allies to have a stronger defense of their interests in the Black Sea has actually provoked Russia and pushed Putin to be more aggressive,” Brzezinski told the Daily Beast. “He sees this as a sign of weakness and an opportunity to fulfill his revanchist territorial ambitions.” The pier in Odessa on the Black Sea of ​​Ukraine on February 21.

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“Only from Ukraine are we learning that the failure of a strong response to aggression only provokes further aggression from Putin,” Brzezinski added. It’s not just about the prospect of future Russian attacks. Putin is already exploiting the Black Sea to his advantage, holding grain and wheat exports hostage through Ukraine’s Black Sea ports, which could cause famine in Somalia, Kenya, Ethiopia and beyond, as the International has warned Rescue Committee. The United States has lacked a comprehensive strategy for the Black Sea region, and Russia’s aggression shows that we need to step it up, Bill Taylor, former US ambassador to Ukraine, told The Daily Beast. “There is a political strategy that needs to be put together. We haven’t had that in a coherent format and we need it,” Taylor said. Russia’s blockade of Ukrainian ports shows how much impact a better policy in the Black Sea region can have to help contain Putin, Shaheen said. “We’re already seeing the consequences of Putin’s action to that end, choking off key ports in Ukraine that have fueled a global food crisis,” Shaheen told the Daily Beast. “His bellicose hostility toward Ukraine today is reaping global consequences, so strategic action is vital to thwart these efforts. “ The proposed legislation would touch on more than military action. It would require the administration to produce a report on democracy, security and economic initiatives in the region and new policy options for a more robust engagement there. The strategy will include plans to increase NATO’s capabilities in the region, including ground and air forces, and military assistance specifically to Ukraine, Romania, Bulgaria and Georgia. The strategy will also include plans to improve coordination with NATO forces, better intelligence operations and systems to monitor Russian operations in the region and help defend against hybrid warfare, including plans to support more independent media to counter Russian operations. influence. The National Security Council and other departments would be tasked with providing a plan to accelerate the transition away from legacy Russian military equipment, according to the draft law. The legislation would also begin an assessment of the creation of a three-star multinational headquarters in the Black Sea to coordinate all military activities. It would also require a collapse of plans to reduce the region’s energy dependence on Russia, an issue that has remained unresolved for years and has been a key flashpoint in the diplomacy surrounding Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in recent months. The Pentagon is already picking up what Shaheen and Romney are paying. Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in April that the Pentagon’s steps in the region now must focus on two main goals: “to secure allies and to deter any adversary—especially Russia.” US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin noted while testifying on Capitol Hill in April that Putin’s decision to go to war in Ukraine forever changed the region’s geopolitics. “This illegal and unprovoked aggression by Putin has had the effect of changing the security architecture in the region for some time to come,” Austin said.