ARMING AGAINST PUTIN – NATO IN THE BALTIC SEA
When Sweden joins NATO, the Baltic Sea will be almost entirely under the alliance's control. And once again, it will be the focus of geopolitical interests and the source of constant east-west tension.
Russia's war against Ukraine has sent shock waves throughout the Baltic. Finland has joined NATO and Sweden has applied for membership , which will make the Baltic Sea an "internal NATO lake". This does not fit in with Putin's imperial ambitions. Power games are constantly being played out in the Baltic Sea by Russian and Western military forces. Finland joined NATO in April 2023 and Turkey finally approved Sweden's bid for membership in July 2023. Estonia's government is urging haste: What other country is more familiar with the dangers that loom than the Estonians, who lived for so many decades under Soviet occupation? On "Navy Day" in 2022, Putin renewed Russia's claim to global maritime supremacy. Given the cost of its war on Ukraine, however, Russia's fleet-building programme seems unrealistic. But weakness makes a regime no less dangerous. Experts do not rule out the possibility that Russia will use nuclear weapons. Again, the Baltic region would be in the middle of such a scenario. In this documentary, high-ranking political and military figures and leading experts explain the political sensitivity of a sea we all thought we knew. It concludes by predicting which state between Kiel and St. Petersburg will retain supremacy. And what this will mean in terms of risks and opportunities.