Vladimir Putin looks set to make an underwater land grab by redrawing Russia‘s maritime borders, further risking a direct conflict with NATO.
According to a draft government decree, Russia’s defence ministry has proposed a revision to its borders in the Baltic Sea, drawing a rebuke from NATO-members Finland and Lithuania.
Dated May 21, the decree shows the ministry proposed adjusting the border around Russian islands in the eastern part of the Gulf of Finland and around Kaliningrad.
‘The state border of the Russian Federation at sea will change,’ a summary of the draft decree said. If approved, the decree would come into force in January 2025.
The defence ministry argued in justification of the change that an earlier Soviet measurement of the border from 1985 used mid-20th century nautical charts and so did not fully correspond to more modern cartographical coordinates.
Vladimir Putin looks set to make an underwater land grab by redrawing Russia ‘s maritime borders in the Baltic Sea, further risking a direct conflict with NATO
According to a draft government decree, Russia’s defence ministry has proposed a revision to its borders in the Baltic Sea, drawing a rebuke from NATO-members Finland and Lithuania. Pictured: Russian corvette Gremyashchiy fires a test missile in the Baltic Sea (file photo, 2020)
NATO ships sail during the Northern Coasts exercise in the Baltic Sea, September 2023
It was not immediately clear from the draft decree exactly how the border would be adjusted and what – if any – consultation had taken place with other states around the Baltic Sea, although Finland’s Prime Minister said no contact had been made.
The news emerged just a day after Micael Byden, the supreme commander of the Swedish Armed Forces, warned that Putin may be seeking dominance over the Baltic Sea, and that the Russian dictator had ‘both eyes’ on the island of Gotland.
Finland said it was investigating the news released in the Russian media.
‘The Finnish authorities are investigating information in the Russian media about the definition of maritime zones in the Gulf of Finland,’ President Alexander Stubb said.
‘The government is monitoring the situation closely. Russia has not been in contact with Finland in the matter. Finland acts as always: calmly and based on facts.’
Finland’s Prime Minister Petteri Orpo wrote on X (formerly Twitter) that his country had received no contact from Russia over the issue.
‘The Finnish authorities are analyzing the reports in the Russian media concerning the maritime zones in the Gulf of Finland,’ he wrote.
‘The political leadership is monitoring the situation closely. Russia has not been in contact with Finland on the matter.
‘Finland acts as always: calmly and based on facts,’ he added.
Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen said that Russia should abide by the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and said that Russia was sowing ‘confusion’.
Dated May 21, the decree shows the Russian defence ministry proposed adjusting the border around Russian islands in the eastern part of the Gulf of Finland and around Kaliningrad, in what appears to be a underwater land grab by Vladimir Putin (pictured May 15)
‘The Finnish authorities are investigating information in the Russian media about the definition of maritime zones in the Gulf of Finland,’ President Alexander Stubb (pictured today) said
Lithuania’s foreign minister said the Russian proposal was an escalation against the US-led NATO military alliance and against the European Union.
‘This is an obvious escalation against NATO and the EU, and must be met with an appropriately firm response,’ Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis said.
Latvia‘s Foreign Minister Baiba Braže said officials were in touch with Finland, Lithuania and other Nordic and Baltic nations.
They were working to ‘clarify the situation,’ he said.
In what appeared to be an attempt to calm tensions, Russian media outlets later ran identical news articles claiming that ‘Russia has no intention of revising the state border line in the Baltic [Sea]’.
They attributed the quote to a ‘military-diplomatic source’.
The Russian outlets reported him as saying: ‘There were and are no intentions to revise the width of territorial waters, the economic zone, the continental shelf off the mainland coast and the state border line of the Russian Federation in the Baltic.’
News of the Russian plans emerged after alarm bells were rung by Sweden‘s Micael Byden over Putin’s intention for the Baltic Sea.
The news emerged just a day after Micael Byden, the supreme commander of the Swedish Armed Forces, warned that Putin may be seeking dominance over the Baltic Sea, and that the Russian dictator had ‘both eyes’ on the island of Gotland
A Swedish soldier sits on a military boat with a machine gun during the Baltic Operations NATO military drills (Baltops 22) on June 11, 2022 in the Stockholm archipelago (file photo)
‘I am confident that Putin even has both eyes on Gotland. Putin’s goal is to gain control of the Baltic Sea,’ Byden said in an interview with German media.
‘Who controls Gotland controls the Baltic Sea.’
Gotland, Sweden’s largest island, sits in the middle of the Baltic Sea and has strategic significance for any nation looking to control the region.
Around 60,000 people also live on the island.
The island is located around 200 miles north of the Russian exclave Kaliningrad, the headquarters of Russia’s Baltic Sea fleet and its most Western point.
Byden warned that if Russia seized control of the island, then it could threaten other NATO countries from the Baltic Sea.
‘This would signify the end of peace and stability in the Nordic and Baltic regions,’ the Swedish military chief said in the interview. ‘The Baltic Sea should not turn into Putin’s playground where he intimidates NATO members.’
Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Sweden has been working to reinforce the island with permanent troops and additional forces
Soldiers from Gotland’s regiment patrol Visby harbour, amid increased tensions between NATO and Russia over Ukraine, on the Swedish island of Gotland, 13 January 2022 (file photo)
A Swedish JAS 39 Gripen E fighter jet flies over Sweden’s Gotland island in the Baltic Sea, May 11, 2022 (file photo)
The war – as well as fears over Putin’s future plans – prompted both Sweden and Finland to abandon their policies of military non-alignment and join NATO.
Sweden joined on March 7 this year, almost two years after it applied. Finland officially joined April 4, 2023.
All NATO countries are protected by the alliance’s Article 5, which states that if any member is attacked, then all others are obliged to come to their aid.
The NATO alliance includes 32 members across Europe and North America, including the United States, the UK, France and Germany.