Polish soldiers install a barbed wire fence along the border with the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad. /
The Moscow authorities specify that this winter the Baltic Sea Fleet will carry out “dozens” of military exercises, both naval and on land, in a particularly sensitive border area.
Over the coming winter the Russian Baltic Sea Fleet intends to carry out “dozens” of both naval and land maneuvers in the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad, the former East Prussia. The announcement was made this Saturday through a statement four days after the crisis triggered by the fall last Tuesday in Poland of a Ukrainian air defense missile that was initially believed to be Russian.
The truth is that senior American, European and NATO leaders pointed out that had the military invasion of Ukraine not taken place, no person in Poland would have been killed by any missile and that the ultimate responsibility for what happened inevitably rests with Moscow. Washington even spoke of further strengthening its military device in Eastern Europe.
In this way, President Vladimir Putin seems to have decided to face what he considers an increased threat posed by the United States and its NATO allies to Russia by permanently training his Navy and Army at the westernmost end of the country. In these exercises, according to the Russian agencies, in addition to ships of the Baltic Fleet, “aircraft, air defense forces, tanks and motorized ground units” will participate.
According to information released by the Russian Navy and the Ministry of Defense, they will be “large-scale, multi-level maneuvers” in response to “increased Alliance activity near Russia’s borders.” Kaliningrad, whose capital was the old Königsberg, is a particularly sensitive area as it is located to the north of Poland and to the west of Lithuania, both countries members of NATO and heavily involved in military aid to Ukraine.
There is also the circumstance that Poland has denied access to its territory to the head of Russian diplomacy, Sergei Lavrov, who was preparing to take part on December 1 and 2 in the meeting of foreign ministers of the Organization for the Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) convened in Lodz. This Warsaw decision has caused a stir in Moscow, which describes it as a “provocation”.
“Destructive Decisions”
Poland currently chairs the OSCE and, according to Moscow, “has violated the rules” of the organization. “With such destructive decisions, the Poles, with the support of their kindred in the West, are pushing the OSCE into the abyss, depriving it of one of its last chances to prove its relevance in strengthening security and establishing cooperation, for which it was created”, reads the statement released this Saturday by the Russian Foreign Ministry. Poland warned on Friday that it is denying Lavrov entry because the Russian delegation “should not include persons sanctioned by the European Union following Russia’s illegal aggression against Ukraine on February 24.”
In addition, on Thursday morning, NATO denounced that two Russian combat planes flew over Alliance ships in the Baltic Sea at a very short distance, in a low-flying flight at only 91 meters, a maneuver considered very dangerous. Apparently, the Russian pilots did not respond to the warning messages. The Baltic Sea, already strategically important, has become an area of tension after Sweden and Finland decided to apply for NATO membership.