Russia-Turkey – In the Black Sea, a centuries-old rivalry

Lhe image went around the world in the spring of 2018: Vladimir Putin driving a truck inaugurating the Crimean Bridge, the longest in Europe, more than 18 kilometers, which connects the annexed peninsula to Russian territory proper, in crossing the Kerch Strait. A way of celebrating Russia’s return to the Black Sea, of which it had, before joining in 2014, only a small stretch of coastline, with a single large port, Novorossisk, north of Sochi, where Putin had organized the most maritime Winter Olympics in history. ” This logic of consolidating its presence in the Black Sea, analyzes Isabelle Facon who has just edited a book on relations between Russia and Turkey (Passés Composites), we find it today in the probable temptation to…