Putin's 'Delusional' Imperial Dream Is Based On Controlling This Region — US Senators Have A Strategy To Stop Him

Experts in the U.S. have warned that President Joe Biden must prepare to stop Vladimir Putin from expanding the Russian empire amid his invasion of Ukraine.

What Happened: A pair of lawmakers cutting across party lines would introduce legislation later Tuesday that directs the Biden administration to develop a strategy toward the Black Sea region, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, the chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Europe and Regional Security Cooperation told The Daily Beast.

“As Putin continues his war in Ukraine, the United States must be prepared to address the challenges he’s created in the immediate and long term for European and U.S. security,” she added.

“That is precisely what our legislation seeks to do by looking at a critical geopolitical region: the Black Sea.”

See Also: Vladimir Putin To Get 100s Of Combat Drones From Iran To Fight Ukraine, US Says

Why It's Important: Putin has long been interested in leveraging the country’s access to the Black Sea, which has increasingly become a critical inflection point for global security amid the ongoing war in Ukraine.

The report pointed out that Russia invaded Georgia, which borders the sea, in 2008, and annexed Crimea in 2014. If the U.S. pays more attention to the Black Sea region and makes a concerted effort to shore up security concerns there, the country might have a shot at foiling Putin’s plans.

“Control over access to the Black Sea is fundamental to his delusional dream of building a Russian empire, and the United States cannot allow that to happen,” she said.

The legislation would require the government to develop an interagency strategy for increasing military assistance to NATO and the European Union and provide increased security assistance to nations bordering the Black Sea.

“The Black Sea has become increasingly critical as Vladimir Putin continues to wage his unprovoked war in Ukraine, and it has become clear that the United States must have both a strategy and presence in the region,” Shaheen's colleague Sen. Mitt Romney said.

Meanwhile, Putin will visit Tehran next Tuesday to meet his Turkish counterpart Tayyip Erdogan and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi for Syria-related talks.

Read Next: Vladimir Putin Issues Decree To Fast-Track Russian Citizenship To All Ukrainians