The Western defense alliance NATO is trying to turn the Baltic Sea into the alliance's own "internal waters", Vladimir Barbin, Russia's ambassador to Denmark, told the state-backed Russian news agency Tass. The comment is a reaction to NATO's announcement in mid-January that it would strengthen its presence in the Baltic Sea.
- It is an attempt to turn the Baltic Sea into NATO's internal waters and to limit freedom of navigation and place the monitoring of sanctions imposed by the West under NATO's strict control, the ambassador said.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said on January 14 that eight NATO countries had agreed to strengthen cooperation to protect the Baltic Sea.
The move was in response to incidents where critical infrastructure has been damaged in the waters. Sabotage is suspected to be the cause, and Estonia's Prime Minister, Kristian Michal, has directly accused Russia of being behind it.
Russia will protect its interests
Ambassador Vladimir Barbin tells Tass:
- Russia will do everything to protect its interests in accordance with international law. Our adversaries should have no reason to believe otherwise.
The eight NATO countries that agreed in January to increased cooperation were Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Sweden and Germany. Secretary General Mark Rutte said in this regard that Russia is currently increasing the number of "hostile acts" against NATO countries.
- Russia's hostile actions are accelerating with cyber attacks, assassination attempts, sabotage and more. We have previously called it a hybrid attack. But it is an attempt at destabilization. It is a destabilization campaign, said Mark Rutte.
Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen (S) declared at the meeting in January that she was "deeply concerned about the situation in the Baltic Sea".
- We must cooperate more closely. And I am very happy that NATO is now directly involved, she said.
/ritzau/
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