Russia, U.K. spar over Black Sea incident

Russia, U.K. spar over Black Sea incident

Subject : Geography / IR

Context : Russia accused Britain on Thursday of spreading lies over a warship confrontation in the Black Sea and warned London that it would respond resolutely to any further provocative actions by the British Navy off the coast of Russia-annexed Crimea.

Concept :

About Crimean peninsula

• The Crimean peninsula is connected on the northwest to the mainland by the “Perekop Isthmus”, a 5-mile- (8-km-) wide strip of land that has been the site of numerous battles for the control of Crimea.
• Between Crimea and the mainland to the north lies Svyash (“Putrid Sea”), a network of shallow inlets that is separated from the Sea of Azov by the Arabat Spit, a 70-mile- (113-km-) long sandbar along the eastern shore of Crimea.
• The Crimean Peninsula was annexed by the Russian Federation in 2014 and since then has been administered as two Russian federal subjects – the Republic of Crimea and the federal city of Sevastopol.

Black Sea

• Black Sea is an inland sea located between far-southeastern Europe and the far-western edges of the continent of Asia and the country of Turkey.
• Bordering Countries: Romania, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Russia, Georgia, and Turkey.
• It connects to the Mediterranean Sea first through the Bosporus Strait, then through the Sea of Marmara and the Dardanelles Strait, then south through the Aegean Sea and the Sea of Crete.
• The Black Sea is also connected to the Sea of Azov by the Strait of Kerch.