The Russian Defense Ministry unilaterally decided to revise the borders of Russian territorial waters in the Baltic Sea, drafting a government decree on the expansion without even bothering to inform NATO members, Finland and Lithuania.
In response to the surprise reactions of the Baltic Sea states, the Kremlin issued a statement on Wednesday that will only make the situation worse. Insisting that there is “nothing political” in the proposed border change, Vladimir Putin’s spokesperson Dmitry Peskov declared in the same breath that the “political situation” has in fact “changed considerably” since the borders were drawn.
“You see how tensions are escalating, what the level of confrontation is, especially in the Baltic region. This requires our agencies to take corresponding measures to ensure security,” he told reporters, using language that sounds awfully similar to Putin’s oft-repeated assertion that the invasion of Ukraine was necessary to “security” against NATO.
“The maritime border of the Russian Federation will change,” says the draft decree published on a government portal on Tuesday. The decree would take effect in January 2025 if approved.
The Defense Ministry says the 1985 measurements used to determine the borders were based on outdated maps and therefore must be “invalidated.” The border around the Russian islands located in the eastern part of the Gulf of Finland and around Kaliningrad would then be adjusted, although the decree does not provide any details on the consequences of this adjustment.
This decision apparently came as a shock to Lithuania and Finland.
“Russia has not been in contact with Finland on this issue,” Finnish President Alexander Stubb wrote on X, adding that “political leaders are monitoring the situation closely.”
Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen urged Russia to join the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and stop “sowing confusion.”
“This is a clear escalation against NATO and the EU, and it must be met with a firm and appropriate response,” Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis said.
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson bluntly told the TT news agency: “Russia cannot decide on new borders unilaterally. »
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