Putin‘s navy advisor has named the ‘NATO Lake’ as the country’s most important military and security task.
Nikolai Patrushev, the Russian politician and member of President Vladimir Putin‘s inner circle, told the publication Kommersant about Russia’s plan to raise their role in the Baltic Sea.
NATO has steadily increased its control of the Baltic Sea, now often referred to as the NATO Lake. The sea, in Northern Europe, is almost entirely enclosed and is crucial for trade, military strategy, and energy infrastructure, with a lower salinity due to freshwater inflow from rivers.
It is bordered by the countries of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, and Sweden. The only non-NATO member bordering the Baltic Sea now is Russia, after Finland and Sweden joined in 2023.
Newsweek has reached out to NATO and the Kremlin for comment.
Patrushev served as the secretary of the Security Council of Russia between 2008 and 2024. He played a key role in the annexation of Crimea in 2014 and the invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Secretary of Russia’s Security Council Nikolai Patrushev attends a meeting in Moscow on October 26, 2019. Patrushev named the ‘NATO lake’ as the country’s most important military task.
Secretary of Russia’s Security Council Nikolai Patrushev attends a meeting in Moscow on October 26, 2019. Patrushev named the ‘NATO lake’ as the country’s most important military task.
ALEXEI DRUZHININ/AFP via Getty
Speaking to Russian newspaper Kommersant on Monday, Patrushev said: “The Americans and their European allies have taken a course towards the militarization of the Baltic Sea”
He said that this was a “traditional strategy,” for the West, and “our Baltic sailors have always crushed the plans of the aggressors.”
Patrushev said: “Ensuring security in the Baltic is the most important military-political task. Since Sweden and Finland joined NATO, and also against the backdrop of the undermining of the Nord Streams, Russia has been taking additional measures to protect its territorial integrity and economic sovereignty.”
“We must raise our role in the World Ocean,” he said. “Increase our own capabilities, while strengthening cooperation with friendly countries.”
Patrushev also said that the BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) have “huge potential in the maritime sector.”
He said that the geography of the BRICS countries means that they need to do joint work in the world’s oceans to maintain stability and security on maritime communications, concentrating efforts in shipbuilding, developing the infrastructure of ports, training personnel and introducing new technologies.
The “NATO Lake” has heightened tensions between Russia and the alliance.
Following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Finland and Sweden joined NATO. This resulted in the Baltic Sea now being surrounded by NATO members.
Russia’s Baltic Fleet is headquartered in the exclave of Kaliningrad. Located between the NATO members of Poland and Lithuania, it would be a frontline in any conflict between Moscow and the alliance.
Patrushev also accused the U.S. and the U.K. of having an intention to sabotage underwater internet cables and having plans to destabilize the maritime energy trade.
He also told Kommersant the U.S. and the U.K. had been behind behind the September 2022 attacks on the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines which are still shrouded in mystery—and were planning others.
He said that “American and British special services” would have had the equipment and personnel required to carry out such an operation, as a means “to promote their economic interests.”
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