The U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s subcommittee on Europe and Regional Security Cooperation on Thursday convened a hearing on “Assessing the Department of State’s Strategy for Security in the Black Sea region.”

James C. O’Brien, Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs provided insights into the State Department’s strategy for the Black Sea and fielded questions from senators, including Jeanne Shaheen and Pete Ricketts.

O’Brien said, “Georgia must be unequivocal in its rejection of this Russian powerplay into its sovereign territory.”

“The Black Sea is becoming a gravitational centre for Europe’s future and is yet another important theatre in the great power competition between Russia, the US, and the People’s Republic of China.”

Putin’s illegal war in Ukraine has put a spotlight on the region as part of the front lines in this battle against Russia’s aggression. Putin would like nothing better than to turn the black sea into a Russian lake and its airspace into a no-fly zone. Encouragingly, recent Ukrainian attacks in Crimea and on the port of Sevastopol have put Russia’s Black Sea fleet into retreat and its maritime dominance into question. So much so that it is now looking for two separatist friends in Abkhazia for a new Naval base. Georgia must be unequivocal in its rejection of this Russian powerplay into its sovereign territory,” he stated.