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RUS naval forces captured Sunday three Ukrainian Navy ships and 23 crew members in the Azov Sea. But it was not an accident born of poor communication or anger. Instead, this blatant aggression (the Russians fired on Ukrainians) reflects the interest of Russian President Vladimir Putin in dominating the airspace, lands and waters of eastern Ukraine.
President Trump must react to Putin's aggression. But before we get there, let's look at the map. In doing so, it is very simple what is happening here.
Nestled between Crimea in the west seized by Russia, Ukraine to the north and Russia to the east, the sea of Azov is of crucial strategic importance for Ukraine and Russia, for various reasons.
For Ukraine, the sea is a key area of trade and transit. For Putin's Russia, however, the sea is central to Putin's efforts to bring the former Soviet states to swear allegiance to the Kremlin. In his ongoing conflict with Ukraine, Putin considers the sea of Azov as a crucial space to formalize the integration of Crimea in the Russian Federation and the effective submission of Ukraine to Russian domination. This ambition explains why Putin and Russian ultranationalist executives are so sensitive to the challenges of their activities in and around Crimea.
However, it is particularly interesting to note that the Ukrainian ships attacked Sunday were going from the port of Odessa, in the west of Ukraine, to Mariupol. Mariupol is a dead center both for its location on the east coast of Ukraine and to serve Putin 's ambition to create a separate Ukraine from Kiev. And by controlling the access of Ukraine to its eastern ports, Russia is limiting its economic potential. Squeezing on a mixture of brutal military force, assassinations, kleptocratic co-optation and the natural sympathy of some Ukrainians, Putin plays here to keep.
Be that as it may, the United States can not turn a blind eye to what the Russian leader is doing. This confrontation has begun, and whatever excuses Putin's pals might offer, Russia is using aggression to steal a democratic nation. Trump should direct a number of answers.
First, the President should warn that without Putin's immediate and visible de-escalation (Ukrainian vessels left free to visit its eastern ports and release captured crews and ships), the United States will apply new sanctions to the against Russia. Trump should clarify that these sanctions will focus on Russian capital flows to international markets.
To show his seriousness, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin should be sent in consultation with his counterparts in the European Union. This move will attract Moscow's attention. After all, Russia was increasingly convinced that the EU was losing interest in the current sanctions regime against Moscow. Russia knows that aggression on the European continent is one of the problems that could lead the European Union to impose harsher penalties. Otherwise, the EU would reject Emmanuel Macron's commitments on EU leadership in security matters.
In addition, while neither Ukraine nor the United States has any interest in a declared military conflict with Russia (the Ukrainians would seriously lose), Trump should commit to continuing to provide information and support in weapons in Kiev. But he should go further than that. Recognizing the recent rise in Russian harassment by US air and naval forces in the Black Sea, Trump is expected to order a flotilla of missile destroyers to reach the port of Odessa in Ukraine as soon as possible. These ships should be accompanied by air combat escorts from the aircraft strike group Harry S. Truman, who is currently in the Mediterranean Sea. Note, however, that the group of Truman carriers should not actually penetrate the Black Sea, as this would be risky and unnecessary (the Truman Air Wing can fly over Turkey and reach the Black Sea). Nevertheless, this show of force would represent American anger over Moscow's behavior without actively risking war.
The key here is that there is a major difference between visiting the US Navy port in Odessa and attempting to enter the Sea of Azov. But the US destroyers of the Black Sea are still attracting Putin's attention.
Ultimately, the Trump administration must recognize what Putin is doing and why and why the United States can not accept it. The alternative choice is to follow the Ukrainian policy of former President Barack Obama and embolden Putin's aggression in the world.
This is where American leadership is most important: when the aggressors use force to challenge the US-led international order.
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