Russian annexation of Crimea aimed to protect its Sevastopol naval base from NATO

Evidence

Notably, the most dangerous moment during the Cold War—the Cuban missile crisis—revolved around the creation of Soviet nuclear missile facilities roughly ninety miles from the U.S. border. Similarly, one of the most dangerous episodes in the post–Cold War era—Russia’s seizure of Crimea and its involvement in the war in Ukraine—has come after the United States encouraged the enlargement of NATO and built a growing number of bases closer and closer to Russian borders. Indeed, a major motivation behind Russia’s actions has likely been its interest in maintaining perhaps the most important of its small collection of foreign bases, the naval base in the Crimean port Sevastopol. West-leaning Ukrainian leaders’ desire to join NATO posed a direct threat to the base, and thus to the power of the Russian navy. — David Vine, Base Nation_ How U.S. Military Bases…, 39

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the broader security-dilemma literature and to Ukraine-Russia geopolitics beyond this book. — connects to: Crimea’s annexation was an easy strategic win immune to Western sanctions — Vincent Bevins, If We Burn: The Mass Protest Decade and…, 520
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — David Vine, Base Nation_ How U.S. Military Bases…, 39