Nikolai Patrushev, a top advisor to Vladimir Putin and chairman of the Maritime Board of Russia, issued a warning yesterday against the West’s effort to blockade Russia by militarizing the Baltic, Arctic and North Pacific waters. “Well aware that the bulk of foreign trade maritime cargo turnover goes through the Russian northwest, our opponents are launching a hunt for Russian ships and ships of third countries with our cargo. They are preparing and carrying out provocations, trying to unilaterally revise the norms of international maritime law, and are also actively militarizing the Baltic Sea,” Patrushev said at a meeting of the Council for the Strategic Development of the Navy, reported TASS. In order to block the Baltic for Russian commercial shipping, Brussels has launched the Baltic Sentry mission, which can be deployed at any time as a blockade mission, Patrushev said. “As a result of NATO countries’ efforts, the Baltic Sea region is transforming from a once calm space into a tense area of military and political instability,” he added.
“In Russia’s Arctic zone, the West has long been implementing a set of political, legal, military and economic measures aimed at disrupting our plans of developing the Arctic, including measures to dispute Russia’s sovereignty over the Northern Sea Route,” Patrushev said.
The West is taking serious efforts to change the military and political configuration in the Far North, in particular, with the help of extra-regional players, he said. The increased military activity by the United States and NATO countries, including by naval forces and surveillance aircraft, in the Arctic region raises the probability of incidents, which may lead to an uncontrolled escalation of tension, Patrushev cautioned.
