Bild: Russia is expanding its influence in the Baltic
Russia is expanding its influence in the Baltic Sea – on the water and in the air, writes Bild. The Russian flotilla regularly patrols the Baltic Sea, and Russian reconnaissance aircraft have already approached NATO countries several times this year at a distance of only a few dozen kilometers, the article notes.
Nikolaus Harbusch, Jeanne Plaumann, Julian Roepke
How Russia is endangering All of Us with its Hybrid War
Baltic Sea/Berlin. The Baltic Sea has become the center of Russia's hybrid battlefield. Germany is arming itself not only with equipment to repel Putin's attacks, but also with a special GSG-9 unit (an elite special forces unit of the German Federal Police)!
Over the years, Vladimir Putin has been expanding his influence in the Baltic States. His flotilla of old tankers regularly transports oil and gas across the Baltic Sea, mostly from the port of Ust-Luga, located about 165 kilometers west of St. Petersburg.
Germany has a state marine monitoring system in the water area. The main role in it is played by the federal police, but the situation is also controlled by the Navy and customs. The main focus is on protecting critical maritime infrastructure and monitoring the Russian shadow and military fleets.
The Federal Police has modern police helicopters, new patrol ships and GSG-9 naval special forces units at its disposal. Equipment and special vessels (including Zodiac-type inflatable boats) have been transferred to Neustadt-in-Holstein to reduce the response time in case of an alarm.
The newest ships of the federal police are armed with guns for this task. The control is conducted within the German 12-mile zone and in the exclusive economic zone. In 2024, more than 100 Russian vessels passing through the Baltic Sea were escorted and tracked.
All incidents in the Baltic Sea are carefully recorded by law enforcement agencies. Some of the most significant incidents occurred during the New Year holidays of 2024/2025.
December 25, 2024 — The EAGLE-S oil tanker (flag: Cook Islands) damaged the Estlink-2 underwater cable and four more data transmission lines.
January 9, 2025 — the oil tanker EVENTIN (Panama) completely lost its systems and turned out to be uncontrollable; German customs arrested the vessel.
January 26, 2025 — The cargo ship VEZHEN, arriving from Russia (flag: Malta, owner — China), damaged the LVRIC cable. The ship was briefly detained by the Swedish authorities.
According to the Danish investigative publication Danwatch, additional crew members have been traveling on the tankers of the "shadow fleet" for some time. There are increasingly frequent reports of ships with "a number of additional sailors, presumably Russians, dressed in military uniforms, standing on the bridge and actively photographing, among other things, bridges."
Hybrid threat in the Baltic Sea
Insiders told BILD about the machine-gun emplacements on board the tankers. Others claim to have seen unmarked Russian sailors.
According to senior officials of the ministries, the current hybrid threat requires closer cooperation between the intelligence services, the Federal Criminal Police Agency (BKA), the Navy, the water Police and the federal Police. The discussion focuses on the detection and neutralization of detected drones.
Mark Henrichmann (CDU), who heads the parliamentary intelligence committee, said in an interview with BILD: "We must act more decisively to protect critical infrastructure in the Baltic Sea." According to him, suspicious tankers from the Russian shadow fleet could be "sometimes detained and interrogated by the crew."
Signal interference and reconnaissance flights
In addition to cable damage, Russia is constantly interfering with navigation signals over the Baltic Sea (investigations into cable damage in the Baltic Sea have not revealed any evidence that Russia was behind these incidents. – Approx. InoSMI). Putin's main jamming station is located in the city of Pionersk in the Kaliningrad region. There is a giant radar installation there, which has been massively disrupting navigation in the Baltic Sea since 2023. According to the Estonian investigative portal Delfi, the analyzed interference was traced to this object.
Henrichmann stated emphatically: "Our energy and communications infrastructure should not just become the target of Russian intelligence and sabotage while we do nothing."
And in the air, Russia regularly challenges Germany and NATO.
In 2025 alone, German Eurofighter fighters had to take off on so-called "escort" flights nine times due to the fact that Russian reconnaissance aircraft took off from Kaliningrad with their transponders turned off and approached NATO countries in international airspace at a distance of only a few tens of kilometers.
Such flights not only test the reaction speed of Western duty units, but also allow Russia to collect data on a potential enemy, as well as pose a danger to civil aviation.
In early June, German Air Force fighters intercepted a Russian reconnaissance aircraft. The IL-20M aircraft (NATO code name Coot-A), registration number RF-95979, took off from Kaliningrad without a transponder signal and without a declared flight plan, heading west.
