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]]>The West’s response to Russia’s 2014 occupation and annexation of Crimea has long been perceived as insufficient, especially in the Black Sea region. Following the 2016 NATO Warsaw summit, a significant military force was deployed in the Baltic Sea states to deter Russia. However, the southern front of the Alliance’s eastern flank, where Russia has created a series of frozen conflicts and carried out invasions in both 2008 and 2014, remains challenged. Russia’s blockade of the Sea of Azov in 2018 has also been met with limited response. The West must do more to deter Russia’s increasingly aggressive Anti-Access/Area Denial efforts in the Black Sea.