The Russian authorities unilaterally decided to change the country’s maritime borders with Lithuania and Finland in the Baltic Sea, reports Suspilne.
The draft of the relevant resolution of the Russian government was published on the portal of legal acts of the Russian Federation.
According to the document, Russia intends to declare part of the water area in the east of the Gulf of Finland, as well as near the cities of Baltiysk and Zelenogradsk in the Kaliningrad region, as its internal sea waters.
For this purpose, the geographical coordinates of the points that determine the position of the starting lines, from which the width of the territorial sea of the Russian Federation, as well as the adjacent zone near the coast and islands are measured, will be changed.
On the border with Finland, Russia plans to adjust the coordinates in the area of the islands of Rodscher, Vigrund, Yahi, Sommers, Holland, Maly Tuters, as well as near the northern entrance cape of the Narva River.
Also under review was the border zone near Lithuania, including the Curonian Spit in the Gulf of Gdańsk, the areas of Cape Taran, and the territory south of Cape Taran, as well as the Baltic Spit.
The resolution also states that the current geographic coordinates, established in 1985 by a resolution of the Council of Ministers of the USSR, “do not fully correspond to the current geographic situation.”
In particular, the authors of the resolution note that these points were allegedly recorded “on small-scale marine navigation charts”, which, in turn, are based on works of the middle of the 20th century, and this “does not allow determining the outer border of the internal sea waters of the Russian Federation”.
The reaction of Lithuania and Finland
Lithuania and Finland reacted to such an intention of Russia. Finnish and Lithuanian diplomats made the relevant statements public.
“Such actions of the Russian Federation can be regarded as a deliberate, purposeful, escalating provocation aimed at intimidating neighboring countries and their societies. This is another proof that Russia’s aggressive and revisionist policy threatens the security of neighboring countries and the whole of Europe”, — said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported that Lithuania is inviting a representative of Russia for detailed explanations and is coordinating its response with its partners.
“Lithuania reminds and calls on Russia to respect and adhere to the generally recognized principles and norms of international law, as well as international and bilateral agreements on the inviolability of borders”, — says the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs website.
The head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland, Elina Valtonen, said that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the country is currently clarifying the details.
“The UN Convention on the Law of the Sea contains provisions on defining the maritime zones of the coastal state; also about their verification. We assume that Russia, as a party to the convention, acts accordingly. It is worth remembering that causing confusion is also a hybrid effect. Finland will not be confused”, — Elina Valtonen reported.
Also, at a joint press conference with the head of the European People’s Party, Manfred Weber, the head of the Finnish Foreign Ministry said that Finland does not see Russia’s actions as provocations.
