Russian ambassador warns of retaliation to NATO operation in the Baltic Sea

Russia will take retaliatory measures against the NATO operation in the Baltic Sea to patrol underwater communications. This was announced by Russian Ambassador to Belgium Alexander Tokovinin on February 6.

He noted that in January this year a new plan of the North Atlantic Alliance was adopted to launch Operation Baltic Sentinel, which includes sending additional warships and aviation.

"Of course, retaliatory measures will be taken from the Russian side," the diplomat said on air of theRossiya-24TV channel.

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Earlier, on January 30, Glenn Diesen, a professor at the University of Southeastern Norway, said that NATO plans to move the U.S. military to Russia's northern borders - in Norway, Finland and Sweden. According to him, the key task of the alliance in the north is to create threats to Russia by strengthening the presence of the alliance's troops in the Arctic Ocean and the Baltic Sea.

On January 23, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that NATO's steps in trying to create artificial barriers to navigation in the Baltic Sea are aimed not at improving security, but at deterring Russia. The diplomat specified that the protection of underwater infrastructure is not included in this list.

Before that, on January 20, military expert Alexei Leonkov told Izvestia that NATO countries' attempts to block the Russian Navy in the Baltic Sea would be a pretext for war, for which the North Atlantic Alliance, unlike Russia, is not ready. According to him, the acquisition of weapons, sending ships to the water area for patrolling in a different environment could sound like a regular use of the bloc's fleet. However, now, he noted, the situation there is different.

On January 7, it became known that NATO is going to send a fleet to the Baltic Sea to protect important underwater structures. According to its data, it will consist of about 10 ships, and the operation itself will last until April. At the same time, it was specified that the forces of the Finnish and Estonian fleets would still be involved in the protection of the Gulf of Finland. Later, on January 18, the media reported that NATO warships started patrolling the Baltic Sea as part of the Baltic Sentry operation.