Каффа и Тана: противостояние и партнерство итальянских морских республик в Северном Причерноморье в XIII–XV вв.

Late Quaternary history of the Kerch Strait — the stratotype region for the Black Sea

Objective: to study the nomenclature of geographical names from the territory of the Golden Horde, presented in medieval European, Arab and Persian narratives and on this basis to imagine how the medieval world saw the geography of this state in the 13th–14th centuries. Research materials: European works – Plano Caprini, Willem Rubruk, Marco Polo, Johann Schiltberger, Josaphat Barbaro, Arab works – Ibn al-Zahir, Rukn ad-Din Baybars, Abu l-Fida, al-Nuweiri, al-Mufaddal, ad-Dzehebi, al-Omari, Ennasir, ibn-Battuta, al-Forat, ibn-Khaldun, al-Kashkandi, al-Makrizi, al-Asadi, al-Askalani, ibn-Arabshah, al-Aini) and Persian – Juzjani , Juvaini, Wassaf, Qazwini, Zein ad-Din, Sheikh Uwais, Nizam-ad-din-Shami, Natanzi, Sherif-ad-din Yazdi authors, available to us in translations into Russian and European languages. Results and scientific novelty: the classification of names contained in narratives according to groups accepted in geography – horonyms, hydronyms and urbanonyms – shows that their number in groups is approximately the same: horonyms – 18 names, hydronyms – 15, urbanonyms – 16. The frequency of their mentions by medieval narrativist varies depending on how significant they were from the point of view of geographical knowledge of the Golden Horde by the medieval world. As for urbanonyms, how noticeable a particular city was from the point of view of international trade. Since the narrativist writers of the 13th-14th centuries, with rare exceptions, did not themselves visit the territory of the Golden Horde, their geographical nomenclature differs little over time. In this regard, the works of European authors who themselves visited the Golden Horde differ. But the list of hydronyms, horonyms and urbanonyms they provided was determined by the specific route of their passage through the territory of this state. Therefore, in the perception of the consumers of this information – contemporaries – the Golden Horde appeared as an endless plain inhabited by nomads, very poorly urbanized.

Study Area, Material, and Methods

The "Black Sea region", widely defined as the area covered by the eleven states participating in the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Area BSEC and the main states around the Caspian Sea, Kazakhstan and Türkmenistan, became one of the new scopes rediscovered within the realities of the post-Cold War period. In the Black Sea and Caspian regions, the strategic interests of the global actors form a complex picture vvith the economic interests of multinational companies, the national interests of regional powers as well as traditional international security alignments and domestic politics. Active participation in the contemporary "Great Game" around the Caspian oil is an important challenge for each state of this region in search of developing its own foreign and security policy priorities. This article aims to analyse the different points of view on the concept of the "Black Sea Security Zone

Quantitative paleotemperature reconstructions of the Holocene are crucial for understanding the evolution of the climate system in response to various natural and anthropogenic forcings and shed further light on the so-called “Holocene temperature conundrum” (Liu et al., 2014). In the eastern Mediterranean – Black Sea (EMBS) region, records of Holocene temperature variations in continental interiors are predominately based on palynological reconstructions, specifically, pollen records from lake and peat sediments (e.g., Davis et al., 2003). However, vegetation was severely compromised by human activities since the mid-Holocene period and possibly even earlier (e.g., Fyfe et al., 2018) causing uncertainties regarding the general temperature development over the course of the Holocene. In contrast to these biological paleoclimate archives, quantitative paleotemperature reconstructions can be provided by speleothem fluid inclusions (e.g., Affolter et al., 2019; Bernal-Wormull et al., 2025). Speleothems from Sofular Cave in northern Türkiye are known to be highly sensitive to climatic shifts on orbital to decadal timescales (Fleitmann et al., 2009; Held et al., 2024, 2025), making them an excellent archive for recording Holocene low-amplitude climate change.Temperature estimates based on fluid inclusion isotope analysis average 11.7 ± 2.6°C for the mid- to late-Holocene period, which is almost identical with the modern cave air temperature of 11.8 ± 0.2°C. Overall, temperatures decrease by approximately 1.5°C from the mid- to late-Holocene (~7 ka – 3 ka BP), most likely related to orbital forcing and altering atmospheric circulation patterns in the EMBS region. The Sofular speleothem record also captures distinct temperature minima associated with the 4.2 ka event and the Little Ice Age. Both time intervals are characterized by a cooling of around 1-3°C within decades, although they differ in hydrological conditions, exhibiting wetter conditions during the 4.2 ka event and a dry period during the Little Ice Age in the Black Sea region. ReferencesAffolter et al., 2019: Central Europe temperature constrained by speleothem fluid inclusion water isotopes over the past 14,000 years, Science Advances, 5.Bernal-Wormull et al., 2025: Temperature variability in southern Europe over the past 16,500 years constrained by speleothem fluid inclusion water isotopes, Climate of the Past, 21, 1235-1261.Davis et al., 2003: The temperature of Europe during the Holocene reconstructed from pollen data, Quaternary Science Reviews, 22, 1701-1716.Fleitmann et al., 2009: Timing and climatic impact of Greenland interstadials recorded in stalagmites from northern Turkey, Geophysical Research Letters, 36 (19), L19707.Fyfe et al., 2018: Trajectories of change in Mediterranean Holocene vegetation through classification of pollen data, Vegetation History and Archaeobotany, 27, 351-364.Held et al., 2025: Hydrological variability in the Black Sea region during the last 670,000 years recorded in multi-proxy speleothem records from northern Türkiye, Quaternary Science Reviews, 367, 109534.Held et al., 2024: Dansgaard-Oeschger cycles of the penultimate and last glacial period recorded in stalagmites from Türkiye, Nature communications, 15(1), 1183.Liu et al., 2014: The Holocene temperature conundrum, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 111(34), E3501-E3505.

The article is devoted to compiling all of the existing information concerning dinoflagellates of Crimea. A list of dinoflagellate species from the continental waters of the peninsula and the Crimean coast (Black and Azov seas) of Ukraine were assembled. The compilation was created using literature review and original data obtained in 1987, 1992-1993 and 2011 from the Black Sea. The list of Dinoflagellata species of Crimea includes 196 species (206 infraspecific taxa) belonging to 64 genera, 36 families, 15 orders and 3 classes. Eighteen species have been recorded in the fresh and salt water bodies, as well as mud volcanoes of the least studied continental part of Crimea; half of them were also found in marine waters. Dinoflagellates of the Azov coast of Crimea and the Kerch Strait are similar in number of species, but differ significantly in composition (26 and 31 species, respectively; only 13 (25%) of them are common). The greatest number of species of dinoflagellates was found on the Black Sea coast of Crimea. This area represents almost half of all species known for the Black Sea (196 and 447, respectively). To compare the species richness of dinoflagellates from different regions of Crimea, survey data covering all areas over a short period of time are of great importance. A total of 74 species of dinoflagellates belonging to 3 classes, 11 orders, 22 families and 30 genera were found off the coast of Crimea. The most species-rich genera are Protoperidinium Bergh (17), Dinophysis Ehrenb. (8), Gymnodinium F.Stein (7) and Prorocentrum Ehrenb. (6). Based on the analysis of original and literature data, and the criterion of similarity of the species composition of Crimean dinoflagellates, it's division into five algofloristic regions is proposed: the western Black Sea coast of Crimea (from Karkinitsky Bay to Cape Aya); southeastern (from Ayia to Takil), Kerch Strait, Azov coast of Crimea and land (which, in turn, is divided into steppe and mountainous Crimean regions). This is in compliance with the algofloristic zoning of Ukraine according to Palamar-Mordvinseva and Tsarenko (2015).

The Black Sea and the Sea of Azov are high-risk regions for major oil spill incidents due to heavy maritime tanker traffic and potential pipeline leaks. As a result, the Black Sea is currently considered the most oil-polluted marginal sea. In this work, we present a series of forecasting simulations to predict the dispersion of oil following an accidental 4,000-ton mazut release from the tanker Volgoneft 212 in the Kerch Strait from December 15 to December 25, 2024. The Kerch Strait is located in the southern part of the Sea of Azov, connecting this small, shallow, brackish body to the northeastern part of the Black Sea. The Strait is 40 km long and 4-5 km wide, and very shallow (3–5 m) at its center, deepening steadily to depths of 10 and 20 m at its northern and southern parts. Circulation through the Kerch Strait is not steady or unidirectional; it exhibits large synoptic variability in intensity and direction, governed by episodic wind-forcing events.The Lagrangian particle-tracking numerical models MEDSLIK, OpenDrift, and MEDSLIK II were used in hindcast mode. The CMEMS hydrodynamic fields, the CYCOFOS wave fields, the NOAA-GFS, the ECMWF, and the SKIRON meteorological forecasts were used to force the oil spill models. Sentinel-1 SAR images were used to assess the impact of the oil spill and to evaluate model results. Satellite imagery and modelling results indicate that the spillage significantly affected more than 60 km of the NE Black Sea coastline, from Veselovka to Anapa. Due to the extreme weather conditions, with wave heights between 3 and 5 m, the available SAR imagery was limited. Combined SAR data and local media reports were first compared with the results of the oil spill models. Backtracking modelling and stochastic analysis were implemented to assess the exact location of the oil leak. The oil spill predictions from all models show good agreement with the reported on-site observations regarding the impacted coastal areas, the large extent of the impacted area, and the chronology of oil deposition along the coast.Upper panels: SAR images of oil spillage in the Kerch Strait on 18/12/2024 (left) and 19/12/2024 (right); Lower panels: Superimposed MEDSLIK oil spill predictions on 18/12/2024 (left) and 19/12/2024 (right).

Copper Golden Horde coins with double-headed eagles and flowery rosette have been encountered in goods of many settlements of Kirovograd, Mikolaiv, Odessa and Herson region. But they concentrate in several places: Torhovytsia on Siniukha River and settlement Horodok (Balykley) on Buh river. A coin of this type different author attributed by Khan Janibegs (1342—1357) and date of 1340—1350s. Also a great number of finds of silver Golden Horde coins of the 14th century has been registered in Buh River region. The hoard found in Torhovytsia, which, besides the six Prague groats of Wenceslaus II (1300—1305), of Johon I of Luxembourg and of Charles I (1310—1346), contained also the 167 Golden Horde’s silver coins, minted in the period from Tokhta (1291—1311) to Nawruz (1359—1360). A wide distribution of the Copper Golden Horde of 1340—1350s in Buh River region gives a testimony to the fact the existence of the few steppe cities in this region. Also an imitations of these coins are met in these region. There is an assumption that imitations of copper Golden Horde coins Janibegs were minted in Balykley. This finds mark the most important centers on the trade routs in the middle of the 14th century. Major stimuli for these cities and trade routs development were salt mines in Northern Black Sea Region. Also, the emblem of the Golden Horde double headed eagles and other zoomorphic images are discussed. On base written and numismatic sources author comes to conclusion that the zoomorphic images (including double-headed eagles) on the coins may be connected with the legal system and tribal structure of Golden Horde. Golden Horde ulus-begs must also receive together with yarligs right of the mintage of the copper coins with private or tribal signs and symbols, аnd double headed eagles was one of them.

The article gradually considers the negotiation process between Ukraine and the Russian Federation on the delimitation of theSea of Azov and the Kerch Strait from 1991 to the present. It was established that according to the map of the inter-republican borderbetween the Ukrainian SSR and the Russian SSR, and according to the division of maritime waters on the basis of international law,Russia should get a smaller part of the Sea of Azov. That is why Russia was not interested in the rapid establishment of a state borderon water. It was advantageous for Russia to delay the negotiation process on this issue and use the Sea of Azov on the same terms asbefore the collapse of the USSR.The article also focuses on numerous attempts of Ukrainian diplomats to achieve legal certainty in the delimitation of the Sea ofAzov and the Kerch Strait. A total of 36 rounds of border talks about the Sea of Azov and the Kerch Strait, held from 1996 to 2012under the leadership of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, showed that Russia was ready to delimit the Sea of Azov only onits own terms but not on the basis of international maritime law.After the annexation of Crimea, a new round of relations begins regarding the division of the Black Sea. Russia acted quicklyand in March 2014 announced a tender for a construction project of a bridge that would connect mainland Russia and the CrimeanPeninsula, which at that time had already been illegally incorporated into the Russian Federation. Moscow has stated that the KerchStrait should be fully controlled by them, as both shores are Russian.In 2016, Ukraine filed a lawsuit against Russia in the Hague Arbitration Court for breaking the UN Convention on the Law ofthe Sea in the Black and Azov Seas and in the Kerch Strait. For today we don’t know what decision will be made by the Hague tribunal,but there is reason to believe that the chances for winning of Ukraine are high.The problem of the Sea of Azov and the Kerch Strait has no simple solution. For today the only option is to wait for a decisionof the Arbitration Tribunal. Only on its basis Ukraine will be able to achieve the best strategy of the relations with Russia on the delimitationthe Sea of Azov and the Kerch Strait.

The content of mercury in water and suspended matter in the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov was studied. The research established that in 2020 the concentration of total form of mercury in water did not exceed the maximum permissible values (100 ng×l−1). In the Black Sea it varied from 12 to 65 ng×l−1, and in the Azov Sea from 22 to 59 ng×l−1. The variation in the coefficients of mercury accumulation in suspended matter was (14.5–1666.7)×103 units in the Black Sea and (14.5–272.7)×103 in the Sea of Azov. The maximum concentrating ability of suspended matter was observed in the Black Sea, at the outlet from the Kerch Strait, which may indicate an increased anthropogenic impact on this water area during the study period. Two trends were determined: the saturation of suspended matter with mercury in the Black Sea along with an increase in its concentration in the aquatic environment, and the decrease in mercury content in suspended matter in the Sea of Azov as the pollution of water with mercury increases. It was found that, given the radical difference in trends of changes in mercury concentrations in suspended matter in Black and Azov Seas, the parameters of the approximating exponential relationships between accumulation coefficients and mercury concentration in water for the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov were not statistically significantly different, and the combined dataset sample for both seas was adequately described both by exponential and power functions. The results obtained generally indicated a decrease in the concentrating ability of suspensions with increasing concentration of mercury in water. The mercury pool on suspended matter varied from 3 to 29 % for the Black Sea and from 6 to 55 % for the Sea of Azov.

In the last few years, attention of world think tanks to the development of the Black Sea region has increased significantly, which is mirrored in the materials of the American, European and Turkish expert and analytical communities. The authors of the research aim to identify and explore the main approaches to the formation of various geopolitical configurations of the Black Sea region in the discourse of Western and Turkish think tanks as well as the policies of the powers. The methodological basis of the study comprises the systemic, geopolitical and discursive approaches. The methods of discourse analysis are used to interpret the materials of foreign analytical centers devoted to the study of the problems in the region. The analysis of expert and analytical reports revealed the key recommendations of foreign think tanks that can be considered as possible further steps by the United States and its allies in the Black Sea region: (1) strengthening the military presence of the United States and NATO in the region; (2) building effective communication with Türkiye in order to dilute the existing regime of the Black Sea Straits; (3) achieving active cooperation of the Black Sea states with Washington, Brussels, Berlin, London and Paris in order to draw attention to the Black Sea region and its strategic importance; (4) strengthening the position of the West in the Black Sea region through influencing minds and hearts of the population through the dissemination of universal values; (5) expulsion of Russia from the Black Sea region through the reduction of the Russian naval presence in the Black Sea.

Preface Dimitrios Triantaphyllou 1. The Security Paradoxes of the Black Sea Region Dimitrios Triantaphyllou 2. Geopolitics, (sub)Regionalism, Discourse and a Troubled 'Power Triangle' in the Black Sea Yannis Tsantoulis 3. Towards a Comprehensive Regional Security Framework in the Black Sea Region after the Russia-Georgia War Oksana Antonenko 4. Geographical Blessing versus Geopolitical Curse: Great Power Security Agendas for the Black Sea Region and a Turkish Alternative Mustafa Aydin 5. The Impact of the Caucasus Crisis on Regional and European Security Nadia Alexandrova-Arbatova 6. The United States and Security in the Black Sea Region Stephen F. Larrabee 7. Russian and European Neighbourhood Policies Compared Andrew Wilson and Nicu Popescu 8. The European Union and Security in the Black Sea Region after the Georgia Crisis Sabine Fischer 9. Black Sea Security as a Regional Concern for the Black Sea States and the Global Powers Sergiy Glebov 10. Ukraine Needs to Decide its Strategic Alignment Jeffrey Simon

Anaximander of Miletus, Hecataeus of Miletus and Scylax of Caryanda, representatives of the Archaic Ionian scholarship, were the earliest Greek geographers (6th century B.C.). The philosopher Anaximander drew the first map (still very schematic one); the historian Hecataeus improved this map towards more detailed elaboration and also wrote the first periegesis (“Description of the Earth”); the seafarer Scylax was the author of the first periplus (although at such an early stage of development of Greek prose literature the genres of periegesis and periplus still had little difference between each other). The article deals with extant data of these writers on the Black Sea and adjacent regions. To be true, there is no such information in Anaximander’s fragments, and rather little in Scylax’s ones (mainly on the area of the Straits); but Hecataeus’ fragments contain it in abundance. That author’s geographical treatise was a virtually exhaustive description of lands known at his time, surely including coasts of the Black Sea and the nearby Azov Sea. Hecataeus measured the size of the Black Sea (at the map rather than “in nature”). It is he who is likely to have for the first time used the famous and very popular in antiquity image of the Pontus as a Scythian bow. Of interest is the question where in the Black Sea region the scholar drew the border between Europe and Asia; the article gives arguments in favour of the opinion that for him the border was not the Don River, as later in Herodotus, but the Kuban River. Meanwhile, the territory that is now the Taman Peninsula (it was an island in antiquity) belonged to Asia according to Hecataeus. In the “Description of the Earth”, there is the first in the narrative tradition evidence on Phanagoria – one of the most significant Greek colonies at the territory of Russia, later the second in importance center of the Bosporan Kingdom. Amazons are localized by Hecataeus near the Thermodon River rather than in the Northern Black Sea Region, as Herodotus and Hellanicus later did.

The paper examines the role of the United States of America (USA) in shaping the ideological principles of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation’s (NATO) policy in the Black Sea region. While NATO's cooperation programs with Black Sea countries and the clash of interests between NATO and Russia in this region have been widely discussed, less attention has been paid to the USA's contribution as NATO's leading member state to the alliance's ideological tenets in regions with high conflict potential. This analysis explores the interplay between the USA's conceptual policy framework towards the Black Sea region and its littoral states, as evaluated in the USA's National Security Strategies of 2015, 2017, and 2022, and the ideological principles of NATO's policy in the Black Sea region. A discourse analysis of official documents from both the USA and NATO is applied. The article focuses on the period since the 2014 change in the legal status of Crimea and Sevastopol, a time marked by increased USA and NATO patrols in the Black Sea and expanded NATO security cooperation with Ukraine and Georgia. The author concludes that there is a direct correlation between the USA's ideological perception of the Black Sea region as part of its European policy and NATO's ideological incorporation of the region into the Euro-Atlantic security sphere. The United States promotes ideological principles supporting the development of democratic institutions in Black Sea countries and freedom of navigation, competing with Russia for the region's transit potential. NATO's adherence to the ideological principle of protecting democratic states and supporting the USA's stance on freedom of navigation furthers the United States' interests in deepening economic, military, and political cooperation with the littoral states while maintaining its leadership role.

The settled regions of the Golden Horde had a well-developed agriculture. The main crop was millet, followed by rye, wheat, barley, oat, and peas. Hunting was mainly for furs and had little importance as a source of meat in comparison with livestock, which was popular not only among nomads but was also exported to India, Persia, and European countries. Fishing was also well developed and the products were exported abroad. Sturgeon and white sturgeon were an especially important food item. Among trades, salt extraction, honey, and the gathering of grasses and roots should be mentioned. Ulus Jöchi had crafts that were well developed for the period in question. The Golden Horde Volga region had very wide trade relations: Rus, Western and Central Europe, the Black Sea region, the Mediterranean, the Near and Middle East, Central Asia, India, China, and Korea.