Nothing Happens Until Something Moves: Infrastructure Development Priorities on NATO’s Eastern Flank

Over the past decade, NATO’s containment line has steadily shifted eastward, stretching from the Baltic Sea in the north through the Black Sea region and into the Eastern Mediterranean. This repositioning started in 2008, when the Black Sea began to be a conflictual area: Russia invaded Georgia that year, and in 2014 Russia annexed Crimea and then went into a full war with Ukraine beginning in 2022. These events underscored the growing volatility on NATO’s eastern periphery and exposed critical weaknesses in regional infrastructure that continue to hinder military integration and rapid reinforcement.