The importance of Snake Island, speck of land in the Black Sea, where Ukraine has bombed Russia

The importance of Snake Island, speck of land in the Black Sea, where Ukraine has bombed Russia

Subject: International relations

Section: Mapping

Context: Ukraine has said it has caused “significant losses” to the Russian military in airstrikes on Zmiinyi Island, also known as Snake Island, in the Black Sea.

As the Russia-Ukraine conflict rages on, the spotlight is on Kaliningrad, Russia’s westernmost region. The region is at the centre of a row after Lithuania decided to ban goods part of EU sanctions from moving through its territory to reach Kaliningrad

Important Places and Locations:

Snake Island:

Zmiinyi Island, also known as Snake or Serpent Island, is a small piece of rock less than 700 metres from end to end, that has been described as being “X-shaped

It is located 35 km from the coast in the Black Sea, to the east of the mouth of the Danube and roughly southwest of the port city of Odessa

It belongs to Ukraine

The Black Sea:

It was bound by Ukraine to the north and northwest, Russia and Georgia to the east, Turkey to the south, and Bulgaria and Romania to the west, which links to the Sea of Marmara through the Bosphorus and then to the Aegean through the Dardanelles

Why Black Sea is significant for Russia?

The Black Sea is both a stepping stone to the Mediterranean as well as a strategic buffer between NATO and itself

Domination of the Black Sea region is a geostrategic imperative for Moscow, both to project Russian power in the Mediterranean and to secure the economic gateway to key markets in southern Europe

Kaliningrad:

As Russia’s westernmost federal entity, the Kaliningrad Oblast occupies 15,000 sq km

Home to the deployment of Moscow’s Iskander missiles and the Russian Baltic Fleet, Kaliningrad has been called the Kremlin’s “unsinkable aircraft carrier”