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What Russia's second S-400 battalion in Crimea signalled
Summary
A look back at reports from mid-January 2018 on Russian air-defence deployments in Crimea and a dispute over a US-backed force in Syria.
What was Moscow adding to its military footprint in Crimea in the days leading up to 18 January 2018? Reports from 13 January said Russia had deployed a second S-400 anti-air missile battalion on the peninsula.
Crimea was seized by Russia in February and March 2014 and then annexed after a referendum described as illegitimate, amid the uncertainty that followed Ukraine's Revolution of Dignity. That invasion marked the start of the Russo-Ukrainian war. The January 2018 deployment therefore added air-defence hardware to territory that Ukraine regards as occupied.
A separate dispute in Syria
Russia was also at the centre of a different argument that week. On 15 January 2018, Turkey threatened to "strangle" the United States-backed Syrian Border Security Force "before it's even born". Syria vowed to crush the force and to expel American military personnel from the country. Russia called the plans "a plot to dismember Syria".
Reading the two together
The two sets of reports were separate. One concerned a military build-up on the Black Sea peninsula that Russia annexed in 2014; the other concerned rival positions on a planned force in Syria. What they shared was the prominence of Russia, which was reinforcing its air defences in Crimea while also condemning the American-backed plans in Syria.
For international readers, the mid-January reports offer a snapshot of how several regional disputes were unfolding at the same time, with Moscow involved in each.
