Since the 1991 implosion of the Soviet Union, the Russian Federation’s relations with its immediate Black Sea neighbors – the former Soviet republics of Georgia and Ukraine – have veered from frigid to open conflict. Russia engaged in a brief war in 2008 with Georgia; then, six years later, it forcibly absorbed Ukraine’s Crimea and sparked a “separatist” war in Donbas.
Now, the latest flashpoint between the trio has been over the Sea of Azov and the northeastern Black Sea. On January 18, Ukraine and Georgia filed a complaint with the International Maritime Organization (IMO) over Russia’s unilateral and unlawful actions obstructing search-and-rescue operations in the Black Sea, the Sea of Azov and the Kerch Strait, which connects the two larger bodies of water (RIA Novosti, January 18).