2,300 troops from 12 NATO countries take part in annual military drill in the Black Sea

Military personnel from 12 NATO countries begun an annual naval exercise led by Romania in the Black Sea and Danube river delta this week.

Over 2,300 troops are taking part in the so-called "Sea Shield" drill, aimed at strengthening collaboration among allied naval, air and land forces.

1,600 Romanian troops are participating alongside 11 partner states — Albania, Bulgaria, Canada, France, Greece, Italy, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Spain, the United States and Turkey.

The exercise was organised for the first time in 2015. Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 has made it increasingly relevant, and Romania's Naval Forces describe it as "the most complex event" it conducts.

The Black Sea is a tightly enclosed and relatively small sea comprising the near waters of the countries that surround it: Turkey to the south, Bulgaria and Romania to the west, Georgia to the east, and Ukraine and Russia to the north.

Control of the Black Sea’s near waters has been contested throughout the centuries and has played a role in the current Russian-Ukraine war.

Russia’s seizure of the Crimean Peninsula in 2014 allowed it to control the naval port of Sevastopol. What were near waters of Ukraine became de facto near waters for Russia.

Controlling these near waters allowed Russia to disrupt Ukraine’s trade, especially the export of grain to African far waters.

But Russia’s actions were thwarted through the collaboration of Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey to allow passage of cargo ships through their near waters, then through the Bosporus into the Mediterranean Sea.

Efforts to constrain Russia’s control of Ukraine’s near waters in the Black Sea, and Russia’s unwillingness to face the consequences of attacking ships in NATO countries’