NATO enhancing Black Sea presence, secretary general says

NATO is carefully monitoring the situation in the Black
Sea and has been enhancing its presence in the region, Secretary General Jens
Stoltenberg told a Nov. 3 press conference in Brussels, as reported by the
eurointegration.com.ua news site. “Last year, we enhanced the presence of NATO
ships in the Black Sea from 80 to 120 days,” he said. “We have an air police
mission in the region, and we have a multinational brigade in Romania.”

Ukraine will propose new elements of cooperation at a
meeting of the foreign ministers of Ukraine and Georgia with those of NATO
member-states, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin told a Dec. 1 press
briefing, as reported by the Ukrinform news agency. “I will propose not only
condemnation (of Russia’s actions in the Black Sea), since that has already
happened, but above all effective measures and will propose several new
elements in our cooperation with the alliance since Ukraine has to gradually
move towards becoming NATO’s eastern flank.”

Ukraine needs an enhanced military and naval presence
of Germany and its allies in the Black Sea in order to restrain Russian
aggression, President Petro Poroshenko said in an interview with a German news
agency published on Dec. 2. Ukraine needs a “strong, unified, unambiguous
reaction” regarding Russia’s aggressive behavior, Poroshenko said, also calling
for more pressure on Russia, including new sanctions and abandonment of the
Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline.

Zenon Zawada: Since
Russia’s Nov. 25 attack on Ukrainian navy ships, numerous high-ranking
Ukrainian politicians have made calls for a boosted NATO presence in the Black
Sea. Although Stoltenberg said that is happening, he didn’t offer specifics.
Moreover, Western leaders understand well the dangers of enlarging their
presence in the Black Sea, namely having  NATO dragged into the
Russian-Ukrainian conflict and escalating it. That is especially dangerous when
considering that Poroshenko is widely viewed to have provoked the attack by the
Russians ahead of presidential elections.

Therefore, while Stoltenberg has assured the public
that NATO is enlarging its presence, we don’t expect any enhancements that will
result in Russia attacking NATO ships or planes. Western leaders are entirely
satisfied with the status quo of sanctions being the main instrument of
pressure against Russia, in addition to the modest supply of armaments by
Washington. They will be careful in avoiding igniting any military conflict.