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What a second S-400 battalion meant for Crimea
Summary
A look back at a military deployment reported in Crimea in January 2018, and what it said about Russia's hold on the peninsula.
What did it mean when Russia added a second S-400 anti-air missile battalion in Crimea? The deployment was reported on 13 January 2018, and this analysis looks back at it from 14 January 2018.
The move strengthened Russia's air-defence posture on a peninsula it had occupied and annexed in 2014. In February and March of that year, Russia invaded Crimea, took control of it and then annexed it after a referendum described as illegitimate. That invasion marked the start of the Russo-Ukrainian war.
A signal of permanence
Adding a second S-400 battalion was a reinforcement, not a one-off. It showed Moscow continuing to build up military capacity in Crimea nearly four years after the annexation, rather than treating the peninsula as a temporary holding.
The wider frame
Crimea's annexation was the first time since World War II that a European country had annexed part of another. Some analysts have seen it as the beginning of a Second Cold War between Russia and the West. Against that backdrop, each new deployment on the peninsula carried weight beyond its immediate military function.
The S-400 battalion on 13 January 2018 was a further step in a militarisation that followed directly from the 2014 seizure.
