In Russia in 2010 Chevron signed an exploration deal with Kremlin-controlled Rosneft to explore in the Black Sea region.

FORBES: Chevron: The World's Biggest Gusher

There is a call for the EU's new External Action Service to make the Black Sea region a priority for its staffing and structure.

BBC: Black Sea strategy

Austrian assertiveness as Ottoman influence declined was compounded with Russian determination to resist any encroachment that threatened her historic interests in the Black Sea region.

ECONOMIST: 20th-century history

In the video, the suspect said he first fled to Karabuk, his hometown in the Black Sea region of Turkey, then to the border and into Syria.

CNN: STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Oil in the Caspian region is now channeled principally through pipelines to Russian Black Sea ports, and Moscow wants to keep it that way, because that means it controls the flow.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Russia's Oil Grab

Pifer, a former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, notes that Ukraine does have a potential separatist issue in Crimea, its narrowly connected peninsula in the Black Sea, but says that problem has been largely diffused by giving the region near autonomy.

NPR: Georgia Crisis Stirs Concern In Ukraine

There is particular concern about the role of Russia in the region, such as its recent extension of its use of the Crimean peninsular for its Black Sea fleet.

BBC: Black Sea strategy