"Gotland, around 200 miles north of the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, is Sweden's largest island and its seizure by Moscow could threaten NATO countries from the sea. This could end "peace and stability in the Nordic and Baltic regions," Byden said, "the Baltic Sea should not turn into Putin's playground."

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"The document, dated May 21, suggests Moscow wants to declare part of the waters in the eastern part of the Gulf of Finland on its border with Lithuania and the area near the towns of Baltiysk and Zelenogradsk in the Kaliningrad region as internal waters.

Russia claims that previous geographic coordinates were registered relying on small-scale marine navigation maps based on 20th-century research that do not properly reflect the region's maritime borders.

But Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen posted on X, formerly Twitter, that the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea contains provisions on the definition of maritime zones of coastal states and that "we assume that Russia, as a party to the Convention, will act accordingly."

#2

Interesting you should say that... I was just reading about the Israeli POV on China and Russia:

"May 22, 2024 at 9:35 AM EDT

The Kremlin has said that Russia must take steps to ensure its security over "confrontation in the Baltic" amid alarm and uncertainty over Moscow's plans to change its maritime border with Lithuania and Finland.

In a summary of his press briefing on Wednesday, Tass reported that Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was asked about state borders in the Baltic.

"The level of confrontation in the Baltic region requires Russia to take steps to ensure its security," Peskov said, according to state-run news agency Tass. "The situation in the world requires in-depth dialogue to find ways out of tension, but the collective West rejects it."

There's a Military purge going on now, with the KGB (as the Russian people still call them) replacing Generals and Aides.

This is important because the only force in Russia that can take power from Putin is the Military.

Ukrainian Missiles Are Blowing Up The Black Sea Fleet's New Missile Corvettes Faster Than Russia Can Build Them

- Clearing out the Crooks.

That's because you make the mistake of believing everything Putin says... much like any Trumper.

Fraud, Lying, and Stealing are part and parcel of Military SOP in Russia.

What Putin is doing is ridding the the Top Brass of people who might be disloyal enough to stage a military coup, which is the only thing he fears.

And of course they have every reason to do so considering Putin's habit of putting unqualified loyalists in top Military positions... which also happens to make fighting a war really hard on the Frontline Commanders.

I agree with MB on this Baltic talk being nonsense... it's more likely a distraction while he culls the Military brass of non-loyalists.

"Graft in Russia functions as both a carrot and stick. It's a way of "encouraging loyalty and urging people to be on the same page," as well as a method of control, said Sam Greene, director of Democratic Resilience at the Center for European Policy Analysis.

Putin wants everyone to have "a skeleton in their closet," security expert Mark Galeotti said on a recent podcast. If the state has compromising material on key officials, it can cherry-pick whom to target, he added.

Corruption, "is the essence of the system," said Nigel Gould-Davies, senior fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London.

The war in Ukraine has led to ballooning defense spending that has increased opportunities for graft."