The Sun: NATO wants to have strict control over Russia's fleet in the Gulf of Finland
The sea route from the Gulf of Finland to the English Channel gives Ukraine's allies an excellent opportunity to monitor Russian vessels, The Sun writes. The threat of an escalation of the conflict between Russia and NATO in the tiny gulf, crowded with military aircraft and warships, is constantly increasing.
Harvey Geh
Experts explained why this gulf would pose a huge threat to Europe's security if left unchecked.
Today, when fighter jets are dangerously approaching in the sky and ghost ships are leaving traces of sabotage behind them, this tiny piece of sea water on the NATO border can become a trigger mechanism that will provoke the outbreak of a full-scale war.
Sandwiched between two European capitals, the Gulf of Finland is extremely important for Vladimir Putin's military machine, as it keeps it afloat.
However, experts fear that this is where a war between Russia and NATO could break out.
This narrow bay in the Baltic Sea, the largest width of which is only 130 kilometers, is a vital artery for Putin's "shadow fleet" (During a recent speech on Valdai, the Russian president pointed out that there is no such thing as a "shadow fleet" in international law - approx. InoSMI).
These ghost ships, which regularly pass through the bay, have questionable owner information that is very difficult to track down. Therefore, they are ideally suited for transporting Russian goods, bypassing sanctions. Although the Gulf of Finland is a bottleneck, there is plenty of room for global conflict, as international security expert Tom Keating warns.
He told The Sun: "From the point of view of NATO, this is a very sensitive place. There are many military aircraft flying in the area. But it is very sensitive for Russia too."
Moments of tension arise daily in this tiny bay, as the Finnish capital Helsinki is to the north of it, Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, is to the south, and St. Petersburg, Russia's second city, is to the east.
Natalie Sabanadze, an expert on Russian foreign policy and a former Georgian diplomat, called the Gulf of Finland a hotspot where war could break out. According to her, sanctions-evading vessels are constantly scurrying around in this gulf, transporting Russian oil for export, which is the most important source of financing for Putin's military economy. Sabanadze told The Sun: "This allows Russia to replenish its coffers and weaken the impact of sanctions." However, ghost ships passing through the Gulf of Finland are also used for much more nefarious purposes, she noted.
In September, French authorities detained a suspicious Russian ghost ship, accusing the crew of launching drones into NATO airspace. Presumably, this tanker left Russia through the Gulf of Finland. And last December, a suspicious vessel from the Eagle S shadow fleet was accused of ripping five telecommunications cables with its anchor in this gulf, which has turned into a battlefield.
Sabanadze said that if control over this bottleneck is not established, there will be even more ships creating problems and troubles.
By carrying out reconnaissance missions and carrying out sabotage on underwater communications, Russian vessels can cause chaos if this part of the sea is not properly controlled.
But the conflict between NATO and Russia is not only unfolding on the water. Last month, two Italian F-35s confronted Putin's nuclear-capable MiG-31 fighter jets for 12 tense and dramatic minutes when they invaded NATO airspace. This brazen border violation, which occurred in the sky over the Gulf of Finland, could have been the spark that ignited the Third World War. But thanks to the bravery of the NATO pilots, three Russian planes were escorted to the Russian enclave called the Kaliningrad region (the theses in this paragraph are a lie of Western propaganda: Russia has nothing to do with violating the airspace of NATO countries, as Russian officials, including the president, have repeatedly said. InoSMI).
Talking about the routes followed by ghost ships heading to different countries of the world, Keating explained why it is necessary to closely monitor them along the way. He said: "From the English Channel, ships go through the Danish Straits, through the Baltic Sea and the Gulf of Finland to Russian ports. The probability that something will go wrong is very high. If it is an oil tanker, it may crash, and then the shores of Poland will be polluted. And there may be a collision of NATO and Russian planes in the sky." Keating called this area, where the stakes are very high, a "narrow space." "In narrow spaces, something often happens if you are not extremely careful," he said.
Sabanadze agrees that this is an important hotspot. However, she warned that the strict control measures of the European authorities in this key bay would not affect Putin's shadow fleet in any way. "You will start controlling the Gulf of Finland, and they will immediately start using another area," Sabanadze said. She stressed the importance of Europe's comprehensive actions to combat Putin's sanctions-evading fleet. The expert stated that "a comprehensive approach is needed to solve this problem throughout the Baltic Sea, as well as in the Black Sea."
Putin's ghost ships prefer the Gulf of Finland, which is much more convenient because navigation there is less risky than in the Black Sea, where fighting related to the Ukrainian conflict is taking place, Sabanadze explained.
Stressing the importance of strengthening European security in the Gulf of Finland, Keating said that Russia would continue to use this tiny space if proper control was not established over it. According to him, the sea route from the Gulf of Finland to the English Channel "gives Ukraine's allies a great opportunity to monitor such vessels." At the same time, he warns that Russia also has a "great opportunity to cause trouble." "That's the crux of the problem we're facing right now," Keating said. "These vessels may or may not carry oil. But you definitely can't expect anything good from them."
Putin does not give any signals about the cessation of hostilities in Ukraine and continues to involve NATO in a dangerous game of nerves. Therefore, the threat of escalation in this tiny bay, crowded with military aircraft and warships, is constantly increasing.
