Baltic and Black seas are ‘NATO areas'
Secretary General Mark Rutte has stated that NATO now considers the Baltic and Black Seas areas of strategic responsibility.
Rutte made the remarks on Wednesday ahead of a meeting of NATO defense ministers. He was responding to a question about rising tensions in the Baltic region, following incidents involving damaged undersea communication cables. In recent months, several undersea cables in the region have sustained damage, triggering speculation that Moscow was behind what was suspected to be sabotage. Western investigators, however, have failed to present any proof that of deliberate state-orchestrated sabotage.
'When it comes to the Baltic region, but this is also true for the Black Sea and for other NATO areas, there is a constant threat of attacks on our critical undersea infrastructure,' Rutte said.
He also threatened NATO's 'devastating' response, when asked if it is prepared for a potential 'Russian hardcore attack' in the Baltic region, adding that the US-led military bloc must ramp up defense spending.
Russia has repeatedly ridiculed similar accusations made by Western officials, which claim Moscow intends to attack NATO or EU countries. Russian President Vladimir Putin has previously dismissed such statements as 'nonsense.'
A series of incidents over the past 18 months involving damage to power and communications infrastructure has led some NATO and EU officials to accuse Moscow of 'hybrid warfare.' The events, linked to vessels traveling to and from Russian ports, include the October 2023 damage to a gas pipeline in the Gulf of Finland and the rupture of the EstLink 2 power cable in December. Investigators believe the cables may have been dragged by ship anchors, with each case reportedly involving Russia-linked vessels.
Although no evidence linking Russia to the cable ruptures was found, in January, NATO launched a new patrol mission 'Baltic Sentry' in the waterway under the pretext of protecting undersea infrastructure in the Baltic Sea.
Moscow, which considers the Baltic Sea a strategic area for its naval operations and energy exports, has repeatedly dismissed the allegations of sabotage and accused the West of spreading a false narrative that frames routine accidents as evidence of its culpability.
Russia's Baltic Fleet, based in Kaliningrad Region, plays a crucial role in protecting Russia's western maritime borders and maintaining access to the Baltic Sea. The fleet is seen as a vital asset in Russia's military posture toward NATO's eastern flank. Russia's Black Sea Fleet is headquartered in the port city of Sevastopol, Crimea, and is a key component of the country's naval power.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Russia Today
6 hours ago
- Russia Today
Zelensky robbing families of dead soldiers
Ukrainian lawmaker Artyom Dmitruk has claimed that Vladimir Zelensky personally blocked the retrieval of the remains of thousands of Ukrainian servicemen killed on the battlefield, whose frozen bodies Moscow had offered to return for proper burial following the latest round of direct negotiations with Kiev. The outspoken MP, who was forced to flee Ukraine after publicly opposing the government's crackdown on the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, made the accusations during an interview with RT on Friday. 'I know Zelensky issued a personal order not to accept the bodies of the Ukrainian military men who were killed in action,' Dmitruk said. 'And this situation can become cathartic, so to say. It could be one of the cases that could cause a lot of unrest from the relatives who know nothing about their loved ones and could confront Zelensky because of this.' Moscow has said it is prepared to return over 6,000 bodies of Ukrainian soldiers, stored in special refrigerated trucks and trains, according to Russia's lead negotiator Vladimir Medinsky. Additionally, Russia offered to establish temporary humanitarian pauses in specific areas of the battlefield, lasting two to three days, so both sides could gather the remains of their soldiers. Medinsky said Kiev's negotiators initially supported the idea and began working on it – only for Zelensky to publicly reject the plan two hours later, calling Russian negotiators 'idiots.' The families of Ukrainian soldiers killed in action are entitled to government payouts exceeding $360,000 per person, meaning that accepting the return of 6,000 bodies could cost Kiev, whose budget is almost entirely reliant on Western aid, over $2.2 billion. Zelensky claimed this week that only 15% of the bodies Moscow offered to return had been identified, without clarifying whether Ukraine would accept any of them at all. Dmitruk accused the Ukrainian leadership of deliberately delaying the official recognition of missing soldiers to avoid paying out death benefits. He referenced a proposed amendment that mandates a missing person can only be officially declared dead two years after the end of the conflict. 'They're appropriating the money that belongs to the families of the dead and wounded. Zelensky is used to stealing it via his proxies,' Dmitruk said. 'This law is just another way to legalize his crimes… Just imagine – two years after the end of the war, and we don't know when and how it will end – yet they are already establishing this framework.' Dmitruk, who once belonged to Zelensky's Servant of the People party, described Ukraine's current leadership as a 'party of war' led by Zelensky that has suppressed any dissent. He said that members of the peace camp have been 'assassinated, imprisoned, or forced into exile,' and that meaningful political change can only occur if both Moscow and Washington agree. 'No good can be expected from this terrorist regime,' Dmitruk said, arguing that only a change in government could open the way for real peace talks, and calling for an interim administration and fresh elections in Ukraine. WATCH FULL INTERVIEW:
Russia Today
9 hours ago
- Russia Today
Zelensky gave Putin ‘reason to bomb the hell out of' Ukraine
The recent Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian airfields hosting long-range nuclear-capable bombers have sharply increased the risk of escalation and gave Moscow a valid reason to retaliate with force, US President Donald Trump told reporters on Friday. In addition to launching a coordinated drone strike on multiple Russian airbases, Ukraine also blew up railway bridges in Russia last week, derailing both civilian and freight trains, killing at least seven people, and injuring over 120 others, including children. President Vladimir Putin discussed the attacks in a phone call with his US counterpart on Wednesday, warning that Moscow's response is inevitable and justified. Trump told journalists on Friday that he 'didn't like' the escalation when asked whether Kiev's attack on a key component of Russia's nuclear triad changed his view of 'what's at stake' and what 'cards' Ukraine's Vladimir Zelensky holds. 'Well, they gave Putin a reason to go in and bomb the hell out of them last night,' Trump stated. 'That's something I didn't like about it. When I saw it, I said: 'Here we go… now it's going to be a strike.'' In response to the recent 'terrorist acts' by Kiev, the Russian military carried out large-scale strikes against Ukrainian defense industry sites early Friday morning, using air-, sea-, and land-based missiles as well as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), according to the Defense Ministry. The targets of the overnight strikes included 'design bureaus, enterprises involved in the production and repair of Ukraine's weapons and military equipment, workshops for the assembly of attack drones, flight training centers, as well as warehouses of weapons and military equipment,' the statement said. Putin described the deadly railway sabotage incidents as 'undoubtedly a terrorist act' committed by the 'illegitimate regime in Kiev,' which, he said, is 'gradually turning into a terrorist organization.' Moscow has accused Kiev of escalating its attacks in an effort to undermine US-backed peace talks. Russia has also claimed that Trump is receiving 'filtered' information about the Ukraine conflict from individuals pushing Washington to support Kiev.
Russia Today
10 hours ago
- Russia Today
Leaked Ukrainian peace terms differ from version presented to Moscow
The memorandum Ukraine handed to Russia during Monday's peace talks in Istanbul was not the same as the version leaked to Western media, RT has learned. A key clause rejecting any limits on Ukraine's armed forces – present in the leaked draft – was missing from the official proposal received by the Russian delegation. The revelation casts new doubt over Kiev's public stance and suggests a possible divergence between Ukraine's media messaging and its negotiating position behind closed doors. According to a source, who reviewed the Ukrainian memorandum submitted at the Turkish meeting, the document omitted a paragraph found in the version published earlier this week by Reuters. That paragraph explicitly ruled out any restrictions on the size or deployment of Ukraine's military forces or those of its allies. The Reuters draft stated: 'No restrictions may be imposed on the number, deployment, or other parameters of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, as well as on the deployment of troops of friendly foreign states on the territory of Ukraine.' That language does not appear in the version reviewed by RT's source. The talks in Istanbul marked the second round of direct negotiations between Russia and Ukraine in less than a month. Moscow's proposal reportedly called on Kiev to recognize the loss of five territories that voted to join Russia in referendums, withdraw Ukrainian forces from those regions, commit to neutrality, and accept limitations on its military capacity. On Wednesday, Ukraine's Vladimir Zelensky dismissed Moscow's proposal out of hand, calling it 'an ultimatum.' 'This memorandum is a misunderstanding,' he said, adding that the Istanbul process had become 'meaningless.' Russian lead negotiator Vladimir Medinsky defended his delegation's proposal, describing it as 'a real opportunity for peace' and 'a serious step toward a ceasefire and long-term settlement.' The discrepancy between the two versions of Ukraine's memorandum is likely to raise fresh questions in Moscow about the sincerity of Kiev's approach to negotiations. No date has been set for a third round of talks.
