e international stage, mea=while, Russia is ascendant. For Mr. Putin, Mr. Kerry's request for help =arked the achievement of a decade-old goal. From the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's 1999 bombing of Kosovo, to=the 2003 3 EFTA_R1_00107016 EFTA01785154 invasion of Iraq, to the 2011 U.N.-backed toppling of Muammar Gad=afi, Mosco

ia by seeking gains from transactional diplomacy have all emboldened Moscow's strategic corruption efforts. This has negatively affected the EU and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's geopolitical and geoeconomic standing, particularly in frontier regions like the Black Sea and the Balkans. Much like it relies on the American def