Despite all of that land they’re largely land locked and at the mercy of their neighbors. The either need to use friendly intermediaries to transload onto ice rated containers/tankers/bulk carriers ($$$expensive) or they get a warm water port (why they took Crimea) and hopefully where they can take land that also isn’t blocked by the Bosphorus Strait.
FYI this is why Russia technically doesn’t have any aircraft carriers. Beyond the fact that their doctrine doesn’t use it as heavily as the Americans (fight close to home in reinforced areas, well supported by other elements and land) Turkey has blocked the passage of any aircraft carriers through their strait.
Russia technically only had a heavy cruiser with a ramp on it.
You’re right that they have too much land though. They just have the wrong kind of land to have a more maritime outlook on the world. If Russia could trade directly through a warm water port all year their outlook would be vastly different. Shipping is 100X cheaper than rail, which is multiple times cheaper than road transport. You really do need constant sea access to trade in order to be invested into globalism to the point you stop viewing foreign nations as puppets or competitors exclusively.
Despite all of that land they’re largely land locked and at the mercy of their neighbors. The either need to use friendly intermediaries to transload onto ice rated containers/tankers/bulk carriers ($$$expensive) or they get a warm water port (why they took Crimea) and hopefully where they can take land that also isn’t blocked by the Bosphorus Strait.
FYI this is why Russia technically doesn’t have any aircraft carriers. Beyond the fact that their doctrine doesn’t use it as heavily as the Americans (fight close to home in reinforced areas, well supported by other elements and land) Turkey has blocked the passage of any aircraft carriers through their strait.
Russia technically only had a heavy cruiser with a ramp on it.
You’re right that they have too much land though. They just have the wrong kind of land to have a more maritime outlook on the world. If Russia could trade directly through a warm water port all year their outlook would be vastly different. Shipping is 100X cheaper than rail, which is multiple times cheaper than road transport. You really do need constant sea access to trade in order to be invested into globalism to the point you stop viewing foreign nations as puppets or competitors exclusively.