MAGAZINE years later , in 1783 , Russia annexed Crimea and founded the city of Sevastopol . The Crimean War ( 1853-1856 ), effectively engaging four empires , saw Russia ’ s ambition to gain control to the Black Sea though the capture of the Bosporus and Dardanelles ( Turkish Straits ) thwarted , albeit only temporarily . Indeed , the desire to gain control of the strategic passage is cited as one of the underlying reasons for Russia ’ s entry into the First World War . Ultimately the closure of the straits by the Ottomans and Germans and it ’ s severe impact upon Russia ’ s economy , again , denied both the Russian Empire ’ s strategic ambition and , arguably , directly contributed to its collapse in 1917 .
In the post World War I period , the treaties of Sevres ( 1920 ) and Lausanne ( 1923 ) attempted to redefine the region ’ s geography with mixed results . Notably , the Treaty of Lausanne , which established the basis for the Republic of Turkey , was a catalyst to reciprocity and security insofar as it moderated European tensions in the region and was leveraged to establish the Montreax Convention ( 1936 ). This convention firmly established Turkish control over the straights , guaranteed free passage to the military ships of Black Sea states not in conflict with Turkey , and limited access to the warships of non-Black Sea States . The convention was contested by the Soviet Union in what is now known as the 1946 Turkish Straits Crisis ; an action that spurred both the US Doctrine of Containment and the admission of Turkey into the NATO Alliance in 1952 . Throughout the Cold War , while the Black Sea Region can generally be characterized as
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having endured a period of super-power-imposed peace , it was , nonetheless , largely within the sphere of soviet influence . Among the six littoral states , only Turkey existed as a Western democratic ally and partner .
ATTEMPTS TO REGAIN DOMINANCE The fall of the Soviet Union ( 1989-1991 ) brought drastic change to the Region . Bulgaria and Romania successfully joined the NATO Alliance in 2004 and the European Union in 2007 . Georgia , gaining its independence in 1991 and reoriented westward ; joining the North Atlantic Cooperation Council the following year , the Partnership for Peace in 1994 , and during the 2008 Bucharest Summit , was assured of its membership once reform measures were implemented . Ukraine , similarly , joined the North Atlantic Cooperation Council in 1991 and the Partnership for Peace in 1994 . In 1997 , with the signing of the Charter on a Distinctive Partnership , the NATO-Ukraine Commission was created with a view to enabling reforms commensurate with Ukraine ’ s ambition to achieve membership within the Alliance .
Cumulatively and definitively , by the middle of the first decade of the 21st Century , Russia had been stripped of the preceding three centuries of security and economic gains within the region ; finding itself as the sole state outside of NATO membership or partnership . The effective loss of its ( partial ) regional dominance and its belief that reciprocity could not assure its needs , led to the perception of endangerment of its wider security and , therefore , represented a risk which required active mitigation .
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