About the Consolidated Statement of Defense Ministers of Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Great Britain, Germany
Pentagon puts on a show on NATO’s “eastern flank”
Photo source: www.fondsk.ru
On February 15, 2023, the Defence Ministers of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, the UK, Germany and Canada signed a Joint Statement: “We, the Defence Ministers … reaffirm our commitment to protect our populations and those of our allies. We will continue to significantly strengthen deterrence and defence of the Baltic region as part of NATO’s collective defence commitments.”
“The “collective defence collective” is already taking shape. First, Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin promised to increase the US presence in the Baltic: “I want to make one thing very clear to the Estonian people. We remain unwaveringly committed to the freedom and sovereignty of our Baltic allies. And we are united with you to deter and defend against any threat to our common security.”
For the Pentagon chief, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and with them Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania “are neighbours of Ukraine, where war is raging”. And the play on “NATO’s eastern flank” is being played out by the Pentagon with considerable detail. In January, Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Reinsalu announced the preparation of a legal basis for a decision to extend Estonia’s maritime zone by adding another 24 nautical miles to its territorial waters. The minister even referred to the Convention on the Law of the Sea.
Let’s look at the Convention. Finland and Estonia are neighbours, there are areas that overlap when the maritime zone is increased. And if Finland follows Estonia’s example, there will be no neutral waters left in that part of the Baltic. This is why there is an agreement in maritime law that Estonia considers a certain fairway in the Baltic Sea as international waters for the passage of transit ships.
The maritime boundaries in the Gulf of Finland have not been revised since 1993, when Estonia and Finland established a free navigation area of up to three nautical miles in their maritime areas. Although the Law of the Sea Convention of 1982 allows up to 12 miles from the outer territorial maritime boundary, the “contiguous zone” could extend not more than three miles in the narrow Gulf of Finland (width 70-100 kilometres). Now all ships, including Russian ships, under the current maritime law, pass through a narrow strip of neutral waters lying between Finnish and Estonian territorial waters.
Tallinn and Helsinki, introducing the “contiguous zone” regime, are trying to lock up the Russian fleet in Kronstadt as soon as they have the right to inspect Russian ships. All they need is a pretext. And such an occasion may arise.
The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea states that a state has the right to stop violations of the customs, fiscal, immigration and sanitary laws of the country within its territorial waters in adjacent waters. By its actions, this state must not damage the interests of other states lawfully using this zone. In other words, international law and the “contiguous zone” do not give the Baltics the ability to control vessels that do not enter their ports or otherwise restrict freedom of navigation. The right of peaceful passage through the territorial sea, including that of warships, is explicitly provided for.
The attempt to detain and inspect a ship passing through adjacent waters without entering territorial waters is an act of aggression. The closure of the Gulf of Finland by Estonia is a de facto declaration of war against Russia. Estonia and Finland can take this desperate step only with the approval of Washington.
This is where the Joint Statement of the Defence Ministers of Canada, Estonia, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania and Great Britain came into play; these countries will “coordinate efforts with each other and NATO to achieve the most effective and credible deterrence and defence strategy in the region”. The means for “deterrence and defence” include an increased presence of NATO forces in the Baltics; military exercises to prepare for high-intensity operations; and information exchanges on military deployments.
“Our commitment to Article 5 [of the North Atlantic Treaty] is strong and unwavering,” the six defence ministers stressed in a statement. This article states that an armed attack on one or more NATO countries could be considered an attack on all member states of the alliance. Once NATO has stuffed the Baltic with its navy, any departure of a single Russian diesel-electric submarine, the B-806 Dimitrov, or any other ship through the “contiguous zone” of Estonia or Finland could be used as an excuse for an attack. The Baltic Sea, where Russia has just over seven per cent of its coastline left, is being turned into a NATO lake. And when the sea becomes a “lake”, who will remember freedom of navigation?
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