Russia’s Massive Baltic Sea Naval Drills Trash ‘NATO Lake’ Fantasies
Written by Drago Bosnic, independent geopolitical and military analyst
During the largely pointless NATO summit in Lithuania’s Vilnius in early to mid-July, the belligerent alliance made a number of “strong statements” that effectively had no substance, particularly the pompous announcement that the Kiev regime won’t be required to go through the MAP (Membership Action Plan) process, presenting the Neo-Nazi junta as being supposedly closer to becoming a full member. However, the provision of “defeating” Russia, a military superpower whose strategic thermonuclear arsenal exceeds that of the entire NATO, stays, effectively making Kiev’s bid for membership no more than a bad joke. And speaking of which, the belligerent alliance cracked another one by claiming that the Baltic Sea is supposedly a “NATO lake”.
And while it can be expected that the members of the US-led bloc are terrible at geography, which would perfectly explain how they could’ve forgotten about Russian coastal areas on the Baltic Sea, Moscow made sure to remind NATO that such assertions are nothing more than self-delusions and fantasies. Namely, on August 2, Russia kicked off a major planned naval exercise in the Baltic Sea, known as the Ocean Shield-2023, coming after a series of close encounters with NATO vessels in the form of recent aerial intercepts over both the Baltic and Black Seas. Moscow’s naval drills in these waters are a regular occurrence, often in response to NATO’s belligerent actions and overall aggressive posturing.
“From August 2, a naval exercise, Ocean Shield 2023, is running in the Baltic Sea under the command of Navy Commander-in-Chief Nikolay Yevmenov. The exercise will check the preparedness of the naval forces for protecting national interests of the Russian Federation in an operationally important area and interoperability of headquarters at various levels in command and control of forces (troops),” TASS reported, citing the Russian Defense Ministry’s (MoD) official statement about the event. The MoD also added that “in total, some 6,000 personnel are taking part, operating 30 warships and boats, along with 20 support vessels”.
“During the drill, measures will be worked out to protect sea lanes, transport troops and military cargo, as well as to defend the sea coast,” the statement specified, adding: “In total, it is planned to perform more than 200 combat exercises, including with the practical use of weapons. After the drills, combat ships will make inter-fleet passages to their permanent naval bases while aircraft will return to their home airfields.”
It should be noted that even some pundits from the European Union have also boastfully used the term “NATO lake”, only to be disappointed by such a large Russian naval presence. Namely, after the Vilnius summit, Politico published a rather pretentious piece, claiming that Russia’s strategic position in the Baltic Sea region is effectively over. According to its assessment, the summit in Vilnius was Finland’s first as a NATO member, while Turkey’s support for Sweden’s bid to join the belligerent alliance “paved the way for a strategic shift in a region Moscow once dominated”. It should be noted that Russia never dominated the area, but shared it with all other countries with a Baltic Sea coastline, unlike NATO, which is obviously aiming to isolate Moscow.
“[Sweden and Finland] make NATO much more geographically coherent. The Baltic Sea becomes a NATO lake, which is generally useful, also because of the Arctic’s increased importance,” Politico quoted Ulrike Franke, a senior fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations.
According to Politico’s admission, NATO has steadily increased its control of the Baltic Sea — a crucial maritime gateway for the Russian fleet which has bases near St. Petersburg and in the heavily militarized Kaliningrad exclave. NATO’s belligerent expansionism has contributed most to this, particularly after Poland and the three former Soviet Baltic states joined the alliance in 1999 and 2004, respectively, putting most of the southern shore under NATO control. Finland’s and Sweden’s membership would further secure the areas in the north, leaving Russia with limited access, the analysis posits, adding that this means a significant expansion of NATO’s border with Russia, strengthening defense in Northern Europe and making the alliance’s deterrence more credible.
“The Baltic states were worried about being a little isolated,” Camille Grand, a former NATO assistant secretary-general, stated, adding: “One could imagine that Sweden and Finland would not have let them down, but access to ports and airports was not 100 percent guaranteed.”
However, for its part, Moscow isn’t actually impressed by the political West’s belligerent posturing.
“It’s extremely important to realize under the current conditions that the Russian military infrastructure has never shifted towards Western Europe, it has always moved in the opposite direction,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said, further adding: “It’s certainly regrettable that the Europeans fail to realize this mistake.”
The Baltic Sea coastline is indeed very important to Russia, particularly for its Kaliningrad oblast (region) situated between Poland and Lithuania. As Politico insists that Sweden and Finland joining NATO also means that the belligerent alliance will increase presence in the Arctic, “a region increasingly strategic to both Russia and China”, as it stated, it’s quite indicative that NATO expansion in this area has nothing to do with the security of either Stockholm or Helsinki, but with the strategy of so-called “containment of Russia and China”. This is yet another proof that Russia’s special military operation was strategically justified, as it was the only way to stop NATO’s crawling aggression before it leads to an inevitable thermonuclear exchange between Moscow and Washington DC.
MORE ON THE TOPIC:
- Ocean Shield Naval Drills Show Baltic Sea Not A “NATO Lake”
- Western Media Calls Baltic Sea “NATO Lake” After Summit In Vilnius
- Why The Political West Still Doesn’t Want Ukraine To Join NATO
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