Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Baltic Sea nations react warily to ‘Russian proposal’ to revise maritime border

Finnish foreign minister Elina Valtonen attends a press conference near the Vaalimaa border checkpoint between Finland and Russia in Virolahti, Finland (Jussi Nukari/AP)
Finnish foreign minister Elina Valtonen attends a press conference near the Vaalimaa border checkpoint between Finland and Russia in Virolahti, Finland (Jussi Nukari/AP)

Leaders around the Baltic Sea have reacted warily to reports that Russia could revise the borders of its territorial waters in the region, with Lithuania’s foreign minister calling it an “obvious escalation” that must be met with an “appropriately firm response”.

In a draft proposal reported by some Russian media, Russia’s Defence Ministry suggests updating the coordinates used to measure the strip of territorial waters off its mainland coast and that of its islands in the Baltic Sea.

The existing coordinates were approved in 1985, the ministry says, adding they were “based on small-scale nautical navigation maps” and don’t correspond to the “modern geographical situation”.

It wasn’t immediately clear from the draft whether the proposed changes would shift the border or merely clarify it.

Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said Russia had signed a United Nations convention that regulates how to make such changes.

“Both we and Finland assume that Russia — which is a signatory party to that convention — lives up to that responsibility,” he said, according to Swedish news agency TT.

If Russians were to challenge borders, “then Russia violates a UN convention, then Russia has the whole world against it”, Finland’s foreign minister Elina Valtonen said, according to Finnish broadcaster YLE.

She said, however, it was likely a routine act by Russia and not a provocation.

Finnish President Alexander Stubb wrote on X that Russia had not been in contact with Finland on the matter.

“Finland acts as always: calmly and based on facts,” he wrote.

Also on X, Lithuanian foreign minister Gabrielius Landsbergis asserted that Russia was “attempting to spread fear, uncertainty and doubt about their intentions in the Baltic Sea”.

There has been great concern in Lithuania about Russian troops’ latest gains in northeastern Ukraine.

The Baltic News Service said Lithuania summoned the Russian representative for a detailed explanation.

However, Russia’s Interfax news agency later on Wednesday cited an unnamed military diplomatic source as saying Moscow does not intend to revise the border or the width of its territorial waters.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters there was “nothing political” in the Defence Ministry’s proposal.

“You see how tensions and the level of confrontation are escalating, especially in the Baltic region. This requires appropriate steps from our relevant bodies to ensure our security,” Mr Peskov said.

Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in early 2022, Finland and Sweden have joined Nato.

The Baltic Sea — Russia’s maritime point of access to the city of St Petersburg and its Kaliningrad enclave — is now almost surrounded by members of the military alliance.

Kaliningrad is sandwiched between Lithuania to the north and east and Poland to the south.

It is home to the Russian Navy’s Baltic Fleet.