The Russian authorities have unilaterally decided to change the country’s maritime borders with Lithuania and Finland in the Baltic Sea, according to a draft government resolution quoted by The Moscow Times. The Lithuanian Foreign Ministry calls the move a provocation, while Russian media have denied any plans to review boundaries in the Baltic Sea.
The document, drafted by the Russian Defence Ministry, states that Russia intends to declare part of the waters in the eastern part of the Gulf of Finland and the area near the towns of Baltiysk and Zelenogradsk in the Kaliningrad region to be its internal waters.
Russia has changed the geographical coordinates of the points that define the baselines from which the width of the Russian territorial sea and the adjacent zone along the coast and islands is measured.
According to the annex to the government resolution, Russia intends to revise the areas along the Curonian Spit, Cape Taran and the Baltic Spit on its border with Lithuania.
The Lithuanian Foreign Ministry says that Russia’s actions are seen as a deliberate, targeted, escalatory provocation to intimidate neighbouring countries and their societies.
“This is further proof that Russia’s aggressive and revisionist policy is a threat to the security of neighbouring countries and Europe as a whole,” the statement issued on Wednesday morning reads.
According to the ministry, a Russian envoy was summoned on Wednesday for a detailed explanation and Lithuania’s response will be coordinated with its partners.
“Lithuania recalls and urges Russia to respect and abide by the universally recognised principles and norms of international law, as well as international and bilateral agreements on the inviolability of borders, namely the 1991 Treaty on the Foundations of Inter-State Relations, the 1997 Treaty on the Boundary of the State Border, the 1997 Treaty on the Delimitation of the Exclusive Economic Zone and the Continental Shelf in the Baltic Sea, and the 2005 Agreement on the Delimitation of the Exclusive Economic Zone and the Continental Shelf Boundaries in the Baltic Sea, as well as other agreements,” the Lithuanian Foreign Ministry added.
Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis posted on X on Wednesday, calling Russia’s plans a hybrid operation to spread uncertainty about their intentions in the Baltic Sea.
“Another Russian hybrid operation is underway, this time attempting to spread fear, uncertainty and doubt about their intentions in the Baltic Sea. This is an obvious escalation against NATO and the EU, and must be met with an appropriately firm response,” he said.
Finland’s Foreign Ministry has also commented on Moscow’s move on Wednesday morning.
“The UN Convention on the Law of the Sea contains provisions on the definition of maritime zones of coastal states; including their revision. We assume that Russia, as a party to the Convention, will act accordingly. It should be remembered that causing confusion is also a hybrid influence. Finland will not be confused,” Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen posted on X.
Mediatietojen mukaan Venäjällä ollaan mahdollisesti tarkistamassa Suomenlahden merivyöhykkeiden määrittelyä. Ulkoministeriö selvittää yksityiskohtia. YK:n merioikeusyleissopimus sisältää määräykset rantavaltion merivyöhykkeiden määrittelystä; myös niiden tarkistamisesta. Lähdemme…
— Elina Valtonen (@elinavaltonen) May 22, 2024
The Russian Ministry of Defence is proposing to declare the 40-year-old Soviet Council of Ministers’ decree regulating borders in the Baltic Sea partly “invalid”.
The document on the revision of the borders was presented almost at the same time as Russia started tactical nuclear weapons exercises.
Legal expert: borders cannot be changed unilaterally
Indrė Isokaitė-Valužė, associate professor at the Faculty of Law of Vilnius University, commented that a country cannot unilaterally change maritime borders.
“The possibilities are minimal or zero,” the international maritime law expert commented to LRT.lt.
According to Isokaitė-Valužė, international treaties that define borders can only be changed by mutual consent of states, not unilaterally. As she explained, changing maritime borders requires a huge amount of work and negotiations that normally take several or even dozens of years and the involvement of various experts.
Sea borders are highly protected under international law, she adds.
“This is the sovereign space of a state, the same as on land. [...] These intentions [of Russia] are very vague and ambiguous. In any case, according to international law, it is not possible to change borders on the initiative, will, or decision of one state,” Isokaitė-Valužė emphasises.
Lithuania would react if Russian ships violated its maritime space, she says: “Lithuania protects its borders, there is constant surveillance, ships are visible when entering our maritime space. [...] Just as in the case of an aircraft violating our airspace, at sea there is a demand to leave our territory immediately, and of course, there are diplomatic notes at the political level, protests.”
Russian source denies intention to revise maritime boundaries
Meanwhile, the Russian state-run news agency Interfax quoted a military-diplomatic source saying that the Russian Federation has no plans to revise its territorial waters, economic zones and national borders in the Baltic Sea.
“There have been and are no plans to review the territorial waters, economic zones, continental shelf off the coast and state borders of the Russian Federation in the Baltic Sea,” the source said on Wednesday.
This was also reported by the Russian state agencies RIA and TASS, citing the source.
According to the source, the intention to revise the coordinates defining the state border is aimed at rejecting incorrect coordinate points that establish reference points for measuring the width of Russia’s territorial waters, economic zone and continental shelf in the Arctic Ocean, the Baltic Sea and the Black Sea. The current points of the Russian territory in the Gulf of Finland, the source claimed, do not have a continuity and do not enclose the country’s territory, and therefore do not allow to determine the boundaries of the state waters.
Finnish authorities are analysing reports that a document has appeared on the website of the Russian Ministry of Defence proposing to change the maritime boundaries in the Gulf of Finland in the Baltic Sea, Finnish President Alexander Stubb said on X.
“The political leadership is closely monitoring the situation. Russia has not contacted Finland on this issue. As always, Finland is acting calmly and on the basis of the facts,” the politician wrote.
Lithuanian Foreign Minister Landsbergis also said that Vilnius and Helsinki are in touch, coordinating the joint response.
“We are trying to go hand in hand so that the response and reactions are similar in both capitals,” he told journalists on Wednesday before the government meeting. “I want to stress that this is not an official Russian message. It is a message that appeared on one website, which can only be treated at this stage as an escalatory hybrid action.”
Later on Wednesday, the document on the planned changes to territorial waters was removed from the Russian Defense Ministry‘s website.
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