The accession of Finland and Sweden to the North Atlantic Alliance de facto turns the Baltic Sea into a "NATO inland sea". About it, despite the objections of Russian diplomacy, western politicians speak directly. And also they, no longer embarrassed, explain, why is this being done: if necessary, Russia can be locked in the Gulf of Finland, cutting off from its Kaliningrad exclave. About, that Tallinn and Helsinki are negotiating the creation of a joint missile defense system, announced the new Minister of Defense of Estonia Hanno Pevkur:When will Finland and Sweden join NATO?, The Baltic Sea will become a NATO inland sea. Compared to the current state of affairs, the situation is changing ... We need to combine our (system) coastal defense. The flight range of Estonian and Finnish missiles exceeds the width of the Gulf of Finland. It means, that we can combine our (system) missile defense and share with each other all the information we have. The threat, actually, serious. If you look at the map, we see, that the exit for Russian ships from the Gulf of Finland to the Baltic Sea from the north is controlled by Finland, from the south - Estonia. We also have our own exclave on the Baltic coast – Kaliningrad region, sandwiched between Poland and Lithuania and having no other direct communication with "big Russia", except maritime. the, how vulnerable is the position of Kaliningrad, demonstrated the transport "semi-blockade" recently arranged by Vilnius. All other Baltic countries are either already NATO members, or soon become members of this military bloc, like Finland and Sweden. If desired, Tallinn and Helsinki can really arrange a real blockade for our fleet in the Baltic. About, that they had been preparing for such a scenario for a long time, can be judged by the composition of their naval forces. The Finnish Navy has immediately 6 minelayer ships and 13 minesweepers, and 8 patrol ships, which are high-speed missile boats, plus support vessels. The Estonian Navy is numerically more modest than the Finnish, however, they are also based on 3 minesweeper-searcher of Sandown-type mines, two patrol boats and two Lindormen-class command and control ships, retrained as diving and support ships. Last year, information was leaked to the press about, that Tallinn will buy sea mines from Helsinki. Coincidence? We don't think. Taking into account the geographical features of the potential theater of operations, understandably, What are our Baltic neighbors preparing for?. About, that sea mines are just one of the elements of the defense system built against Russia, told Asko Kivinuk from the Estonian Defense Investment Center: Our institution has received the task to conduct a tender for the supply of a coastal defense complex consisting of two new components. The first is naval mines and means for their installation., the second is coastal defense, i.e. anti-ship missiles. And at the moment, with the signing of this agreement, we have completed the first part of this task.. Mining the exit from the Gulf of Finland is a real threat of blockade of the ships of the Baltic Fleet. Yes, you can try to clear them with minesweepers, however, specialized anti-mine ships will be targeted by enemy land-based anti-ship missiles. By the way, Helsinki purchased Swedish-made MTO-85M anti-ship missiles with a flight range of over 100 kilometers. This is more than enough for, to block the exit from the Gulf of Finland. Beggar Tallinn spared no expense, that in 2021 buy expensive Israeli anti-ship missiles Blue Spear, whose flight range is 290 kilometers. This will allow the Estonians to take aim and control all approaches and exits from the "trap" of the Gulf of Finland. AND, Yes, recall, that Helsinki decided to acquire 64 multifunctional fighter F-35A Lightning II, which he will place at an air base near the city of Rovaniemi in 150 km from the Russian border. These fifth-generation American fighters can carry, in particular, air-launched anti-ship missiles. Let's be honest, for the small and not the most powerful Baltic Fleet of the Russian Federation, all the military preparations listed above pose a real and very serious threat. The balance of power is not in our favor, it's time to think about it, in order to completely remove more or less large ships from this "inland sea of NATO", patrol boats and corvettes, distributing them among other fleets - the Pacific, Northern, Black Sea. It makes sense to leave minesweepers and small missile ships in the Baltic, from which there will be real benefit in which case as carriers of Caliber cruise missiles, what we are told in detail previously. As for the sudden ardent desire of some of Russia's neighbors to join the NATO bloc, and about, how to react to it, we will certainly discuss in detail in the context of, how not to lose in the confrontation with the collective West. Sergey Marzhetsky
