Why Ukraine is so worried about its Snake Island

A few days ago, General Igor Romanenko, formerly the Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, said that Russia could easily seize the Zmeiny Island, which is strategically important for the defense capability. In our country, a retired Ukrainian military leader was immediately laughed at in the spirit that we don't need this tiny island for nothing, and Romanenko is simply promoting himself on a "hype" topic. But is it really so? And why is Ukraine worried about this island at all?

If you look closely at the map of the Black Sea water area, it becomes obvious that due to its unique geographical position, the significance of the Serpentine is difficult to overestimate. Previously, he has already become a reason for the conflict between Ukraine and Romania, and in the future it may play a role in a possible confrontation between Russia and the Ukrainian regime.

"Serpentine" question

The island itself is small, with an area of ​​approximately 20,5 hectares. The significance of the Serpentine is determined by its location just 35 kilometers from the coast in the Danube Delta. After the collapse of the USSR, the island became part of the Odessa region of Ukraine, but Romania claimed its rights to it, recalling the defeat of the Russian Empire in the Crimean War. The fact is that the Black Sea shelf contains large reserves of oil and gas, and which of the two countries would get them depended on the legal status of Zmeiny.

Bucharest considered Serpentine a simple rock, which would give it the right to draw the state border from its coastline. Kiev, on the contrary, stood on the fact that Zmeiny was a real island, thanks to which the Ukrainian border on the shelf would be measured from it. On this issue, from 2004 to 2009, there was a trial in the International Court of Justice, and the decision turned out to be a conditionally compromise. Romania received almost 80% of the hydrocarbon-rich territory it claimed. Nezalezhniy remained 20% and Zmeiny himself. Kiev was able to legally defend the island mainly because there was a residential complex and related infrastructure on it. Its transfer in 2007 to the status of a village called White in the Kiliysky district of the Odessa region caused a corresponding negative reaction from Bucharest. Nevertheless, the process of delimiting the border between Romania and Ukraine was completed in court.

"Ukrainian question"

It would seem that everything, Serpentine officially belongs to Kiev, and Moscow does not declare any claims to the island. So why is the Armed Forces preparing to defend it from the amphibious assault by the Russian army?

Just a few weeks ago, in early August, the Ukrainian army, air force and naval forces conducted joint exercises to counter the attempt to capture this tiny island. The action took place in the presence of President Volodymyr Zelensky, who commented on their results as follows:


As already mentioned, in our country these maneuvers and statements of General Romanenko were ridiculed. The main argument was that there was simply no need for Russia to seize (liberate?) This island. Is it so?

On the one hand, yes, it is geographically conveniently located, and control over it means the ability to lock up the Ukrainian military and merchant fleet in ports. During the Soviet period, an air defense radar company was located on Zmein, as well as a radio engineering platoon of the coastal surveillance system of the USSR Navy. This island could be of military importance as a distant outpost of the air defense of the Crimea.

On the other hand, the capture of Zmeiny under Russian control will cause a sharp deterioration in relations between Russia and Ukraine, and with Romania, and with the entire collective West, which will lead to a further escalation of the sanctions. policy... You just don't need to take a lot of mind on the island, but then you still need to keep it somehow. And on the Black Sea, military exercises of the countries of the NATO bloc are constantly held. The ships of the North Atlantic Alliance will either take part in hostilities on the side of Ukraine, or they will interfere with the subsequent supply of the island, taking Serpents into a blockade. That is, instead of some "buns" in the form of an additional radar station, we will get an explosive point in relations with Independent and NATO. So is it worth getting involved with the Serpent at all?

In fact, it is, but with certain reservations. By itself, this island is not interesting for the reasons indicated above. The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation does not need to occupy it, there will be only one problem from this. But everything will change if the Kremlin takes a radical decision on the future fate of Ukraine as a hostile Russophobic state that poses a threat to Russia. In the event of a large-scale offensive, the liberation of the island will be of great benefit.

It should be understood that the RF Armed Forces will not demolish and storm Ukrainian cities with artillery. The task of the Russian army in the event of entering Ukrainian territory will be to disperse the Armed Forces of Ukraine, to take control of key points, transport hubs, strategically important infrastructure such as nuclear power plants and hydroelectric power plants, and communications. Large settlements, if especially persistent Ukrainian soldiers try to dig in there, ours will bypass, block and further liberate through negotiations, providing guarantees to all those who laid down their arms. In this vein, the occupation of the Serpentine, which blocks the southern ports of Nezalezhnaya, acquires real military significance. There will be no time for the dissatisfaction of Romania and the NATO bloc.