The Mediterranean Eskadra and Russia’s military-political strategy in the Mediterranean Basin

Stephen Blank and Younkyoo Kim

Defense & Security Analysis, 2021, vol. 37, issue 4, 453-471

Abstract: Russia seeks to convert the Black Sea into a Russian lake. This entails projecting power well into the Mediterranean Sea. Since 2013 Moscow has reinforced the missile, air defence, and submarine component of its Mediterranean Eskadra (Squadron) to deny NATO access to the Eastern Mediterranean and Black Seas. This article explains how and why Russia's Mediterranean Eskadra has become a major arm of Russia's military-political strategy in these waters. By analysing its missions, roles, and activities the article shows how Moscow conducts innovative, sophisticated, yet simultaneously traditional military-political operations to maximise and enhance its global standing in accordance with its own strategy. The article further argues that the Eskadra's creation and deployment corresponds not just to the revival of Russian military capability in 2013, but also to a much broader Russian perspective on contemporary war, and analyzes Russia's political considerations in the deployment of major military forces in the Mediterranean Basin.

Date: 2021
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/14751798.2021.1995969 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:cdanxx:v:37:y:2021:i:4:p:453-471

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/CDAN20

DOI: 10.1080/14751798.2021.1995969

Access Statistics for this article

Defense & Security Analysis is currently edited by Martin Edmonds

More articles in Defense & Security Analysis from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().