US And NATO Boosting Their Activities Near The Russian Border

US Navy destroyer USS Porter with other ships during exercise Sea Breeze in the Black Sea, July 25, 2020. US Navy/Courtesy of Ukrainian Navy

Business Insider: The US and NATO are boosting their presence in a hotspot for military activity near Russia

* In late July, the US and other partners wrapped up the 20th iteration of Sea Breeze, a multinational military exercise in the Black Sea.
* The exercise comes amid years of rising tensions between Russia and its neighbors — and the Black Sea has been a growing hotspot for those increasingly contentious relations.
* Ben Hodges, US Army Europe commander from 2015 to 2017, cautioned that the coming months — with an ongoing drought in Crimea, US and Ukrainian elections, and a major military exercise in southwestern Russia — could see more Russian action.

The long-awaited announcement about the redeployment of thousands of US troops currently in Germany finally came at the end of July.

US officials, including Defense Secretary Mark Esper and Gen. Tod Wolters, who heads US European Command, outlined the moves and the strategic reasoning behind them. President Donald Trump immediately undercut their remarks, but their references to the Black Sea reflect how the region is a growing point of tension with Russia.

"We're moving forces out of Central Europe, Germany, where they had been since the Cold War," Esper said. "We're following, in many ways, the boundary east [to] where our newest allies are, so into the Black Sea region" as well as Poland and the Baltics.

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Update: NATO Needs to Focus on the Black Sea (Defense One)

WNU Editor: The Russian military is responding .... Russia Scrambles Su-27 to Intercept US Navy Reconnaissance Jet Over Black Sea (Sputnik). More here .... Russian fighter jet intercepts U.S. reconnaissance planes over Black Sea: reports (Reuters).

Russian Military vs US & NATO

Kris Osborn, Scout Warrior: Weapons & War Analysis: Russian Military vs US & NATO

How much of a threat do Russia's emerging 5th-generation stealth fighter, nuclear arsenal, high-tech air defenses, anti-satellite weapons, conventional army and submarines

Current tensions between Russia and NATO are leading many to carefully assess this question and examine the current state of weaponry and technological sophistication of the Russian military -- with a mind to better understanding the extent of the kinds of threats they may pose.

Naturally, Russia’s military maneuvers and annexation of the Crimean peninsula have many Pentagon analysts likely wondering about and assessing the pace of Russia's current military modernization and the relative condition of the former Cold War military giant’s forces, platforms and weaponry.

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WNU Editor: This is a detailed analysis. Should we in the West be concerned .... not really. There is no appetite in the Kremlin or among the Russian public for a war against the West .... not even an invasion of the Baltics. One big reason is that there is a perception that should a war break out, it will quickly evolve into a nuclear exchange. As for the West .... they are not going to invade Russia .... a fact that many Russians also know. The problem is in places like Ukraine, or a resumption of a real arms build-up in Europe. Both situations have to be resolved, the question is when.

NATO Freezes Russian Ties Over Georgia

A Russian military vehicle rolls past a house set on fire by South Ossetian militia in the Georgian village of Kvemo-Achebeti outside the South Ossetian capital of Tskhinvali, August 18, 2008. (Denis Sinyakov/Reuters)

NATO Freezes Russian Ties Over Georgia -- Yahoo News/Reuters

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - NATO agreed after U.S. pressure on Tuesday to freeze regular contacts with Russia until Moscow had withdrawn its troops from Georgia in line with a peace deal.

The alliance also agreed to upgrade contacts with Tbilisi but stopped short of accelerating its efforts to join NATO, an ambition which had enraged Russia even before the two-week-old conflict over Georgia's breakaway South Ossetia region.

"We have determined that we cannot continue with business as usual," the 26 NATO states said in a joint declaration issued after emergency talks in Brussels.

The statement did not explicitly refer to a U.S. demand to suspend contacts within the six-year-old NATO-Russia Council (NRC), but NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said it was clear such contacts could not take place at present.

"As long as Russian forces are basically occupying a large part of Georgia I cannot see a NATO-Russia Council convening at whatever level," he told a news conference.

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More News On Nato And Russian Relations

NATO: Russia not honoring cease-fire terms -- CNN
Analysis: NATO grapples with the angry bear -- CNN
NATO: Cooperation with Russia depends on troop pullout -- USA Today
NATO pulls its punches on penalty against Russia -- Yahoo News/AP
Russia hits back at Nato warning -- BBC
Nato offers scant comfort for Georgia over conflict with Russia -- Telegraph

My Comment: If nothing changes within a week ... expect more sanctions and freezing of contacts between Europe and Russia. The longer this crisis continues, the more damaged Russia's relations will be with everyone.