Vladimir Putin has laid claim to maritime waters that Russia does not control after the Russian Defence Ministry unilaterally declared ownership over waters that are currently part of Finland and Lithuania.
The abrupt declaration risks escalation and conflict with Finland and Lithuania, both of which are NATO countries. The sea border claim has also raised fears that Russia‘s aggression will not stop at Ukraine.
A document, drafted by the Russian Defence Ministry, states that 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. Russia also intends to redraw the areas along the Curonian Spit, Cape Taran and the Baltic Spit on its border with Lithuania.
The Russian Ministry of Defence said that Baltic Sea borders, based on a 40-year-old Soviet Council of Ministers’ decree, were “invalid”. It claims that the decree of the USSR Ministers Council in 1985 “do not fully correspond to the current geographic situation”.
Lithuania has slammed the move as a provocation and promised a “firm response” from NATO. The Lithuanian Foreign Ministry says that Russia’s actions are seen as a deliberate, targeted, escalatory provocation to intimidate neighbouring countries.
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.”
Lithuania has already summoned the Russian envoy today 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.”
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 was presented almost at the same time as Russia started tactical nuclear weapons exercises near Ukraine.
The drills simulate the use of tactical nuclear weapons in response to what Moscow deems threats from Western officials about increased involvement in the conflict. The Kremlin was outraged by the French president, Emmanuel Macron, who floated the possibility of sending European troops to fight Russia in Ukraine, and by remarks from the UK foreign secretary, David Cameron, who said Ukraine had the right to use weapons supplied by London to target sites in Russia.
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.