Warm waters. They're now cut off from the Baltic, and Turkey won't let them through the Bosporus. When the sea is frozen all along their coastline, the only access they have to the world ocean is with submarines.
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They have a Pacific coast.
To bypass Turkey hey'd need to go way further than Ukraine.
The Pacific coast is thousands of miles from their developed areas. There is no way to bypass Turkey out of the Black Sea. Russia just doesn't have any good warm water ports outside the Baltic, and they can't use the Baltic anymore either.
The port of Murmansk is free of ice all year round. Russia also has an adequate fleet of ice breakers capable of keeping sea lanes and ports open.
IMG source - wikipedia
If the point is trade, and it is, Murmansk doesn't meet the need. Neither do ice breakers.
Russia is geographically unfortunate regarding trade. It's out of the way, not along the way, on every route where trade is undertaken.
Thanks!
In no way is Russia cut off from the Baltic, either. Russia can use its ports in the Baltics near St. Petersburg just fine. IIRC, even its ports in Kaliningrad are serviced by train from the rest of Russia after the EU told Lithuania that it cannot ban Russian trains between Kaliningrad and the rest of Russia in its territory.
I haven't been there, and can't verify or disprove it either way. Other sources tell me Russia cannot use it's Baltic ports. That's the sum total of information I have at this time, other than your statement.
I'm curious. What are your sources? I'm in Europe and there has been no mention of Russian ships being blocked from the Danish Straights. Danish pilots have continued to help Russian tankers navigate the straights at least until March 2023.
https://shippingwatch.com/regulation/article15221180.ece
It was late March or early April when I noted the claim the Baltic was no longer available to Russian shipping on European message boards.
What European message boards? What year?
China's Belt and Road is of incalculable value to Russia, perhaps even more than it is to China.