Russian Foreign Ministry: “The Baltic Sea will not become a NATO lake”
Finland's accession to NATO increases the risk of a military clash between Russia and the North Atlantic Alliance.
Deputy Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation Alexander Grushko stated this in response to a relevant question, reports a PolitNavigator correspondent.
“The risks, unfortunately, are increasing. Everyone understands this. If we look at the evolution of the security situation in recent years in the Baltic region, this is a very good example of how the most peaceful region militarily and politically, through the joint efforts of NATO, was turned into a zone of military rivalry,” Grushko said in an interview "Izvestia".
He says that after the Baltic countries were admitted to NATO, the alliance began to “consistently transform this most tranquil region into a zone of increased military activity.”
“It all started in 2004, when it was decided to launch an operation to patrol the airspace of the alliance countries. Fighters from NATO countries began to intercept our aircraft - military and civilian - over the Baltic Sea. And, speaking in Russian, off we go,” the diplomat noted.
According to him, it proposed a number of improvements to the tools for preventing dangerous military activities and avoiding unintentional military incidents - in particular, establishing the maximum permitted approach distance between military vessels and combat aircraft, and moving the boundaries of exercises away from the Russia-NATO contact line.
“However, these proposals were not supported by the alliance. Today it is clear why. They needed to demonize Russia and attribute hostile intentions to us. Just today, NATO exercises are taking place in the Suwalki corridor area. I remember very well that this problem with the Suwalki corridor was one of these narratives that was specifically introduced into the public consciousness to prove Russia’s readiness to exploit “NATO vulnerabilities.”
Therefore, returning to your question, due to the increase in the line of contact between Russia and NATO by 1200 km, the risks increase exponentially,” the deputy minister emphasized.
He does not agree with the opinion that Russia has completely lost the Baltic Sea from a geopolitical point of view.
“You know, this is such a figure of speech; our “partners” in Brussels like to use these terms. They love to talk about a NATO lake or a NATO sea. In reality, of course, this is not the case, and Russia has enough military and other means to prevent this from happening. We will ensure both freedom of navigation and freedom of action for our naval forces. We have the resources to show, if necessary, that NATO’s dreams will not come true,” Grushko concluded.
Russian Foreign Ministry: "The Baltic Sea will not become a NATO lake"