Russia has infuriated NATO by laying claim to waters owned by Finland and Lithuania.
Vladimir Putin has been accused of intimidating his neighbours in the sudden move announced by his defence ministry this week.
It comes as NATO has reportedly been readying itself for a potential conflict with Russia over the war in Ukraine, which is now in its third year.
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The Russian Ministry of Defence has drafted a document stating Russia will seize control of the waters owned by the two NATO members as the current Baltic sea borders are “invalid”.
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As both Finland and Lithuania are members of NATO the risky action has escalated fears of WW3. This is because the organisation has a principle of collective defence, so an attack on any member can be seen as an attack on the whole organisation.
Lithuania has slammed the move as a provocation and promised a “firm response” from NATO. The Lithuanian Foreign Ministry says Russia’s actions are a deliberate, targeted, escalatory provocation to intimidate neighbouring countries.
The document states Russia will seize control of part of the waters in the eastern part of the Gulf of Finland and that the area near the towns of Baltiysk and Zelenogradsk in the Kaliningrad region will become its own internal waters.
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It also intends to redraw the areas along the Curonian Spit, Cape Taran and the Baltic Spit on its border with Lithuania. The current borders are based on a decree made nearly 40 years ago during the time of the Soviet Union – which the Ministry of Defence claims “do not fully correspond to the current geographic situation”.
Lithuania has already summoned the Russian envoy for a detailed explanation.
A spokesperson for the foreign ministry said: “This is further proof that Russia’s aggressive and revisionist policy is a threat to the security of neighbouring countries and Europe as a whole.”
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Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis: “Another Russian hybrid operation is underway, this time attempting to spread fear, uncertainty, and doubt about their intentions in the Baltic Sea This is an obvious escalation against NATO and the EU, and must be met with an appropriately firm response.”
And Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen said that Russia, as part of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, had violated its own agreements. She added: “It should be remembered that causing confusion is also a hybrid influence. Finland will not be confused.”
The declaration came almost at the same time as Russia started tactical nuclear weapons exercises near Ukraine.
(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
The Russian Defence Ministry published footage on Tuesday showing trucks carrying missiles to a field where launch systems had been prepared and troops at an airfield readying a bomber to carry a nuclear warhead. Their drills simulate the use of nuclear weapons – as Moscow says it feels threatened over what it perceives as increased involvement by the West in the Ukraine war.
The Kremlin was outraged by a suggestion floated by French president Emmanuel Macron about sending European troops to fight Russia in Ukraine, and from foreign secretary David Cameron, who said Ukraine had the right to use weapons supplied by London to target sites in Russia.
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