Danger Ramps Up in the Baltics, as War Party Won't Go Quietly
Events again accelerate, as geopolitical inevitabilities come to a head on the stage.
We’ll get to the ostensibly biggest storylines revolving around the crescendoing Ukrainian peace talks, but the biggest story slipping under the surface revolves around the escalating threats from the Baltics and their masters toward Russia as a new vector of provocation from the West.
In light of Ukraine’s proceeding collapse, the Empire badly needs to find a way to ‘self-fulfill’ the prophecy of Russia attacking Europe, in order to sell its own fraudulent historiography of the war, which underpins all the malice carried out against Russia to this point.
Thus lies the need to ramp up provocations to force Russia into making some militarily aggressive action or attack on another neighboring country, to sell the whole narrative. This would serve two purposes: if the war in Ukraine ends, the West needs some way to keep Russia busy and pressured to slow its development, particularly now that its economy is rapidly distancing itself from decaying Europe. But the second purpose lies in—even if the Ukraine war goes on—forcing Russia to respond aggressively to a neighboring country to galvanize European, and even global, solidarity, allowing the fulfillment of all the military rearmament dreams NATO’s magpies have been twittering about.
Now that Ukraine teeters on the edge, the plan is ramping up. Several major concerted ‘events’ occurred this week, by no coincidence of their own:
Firstly, Russian Rostelecom’s underwater Baltika cable in the Gulf of Finland was “damaged”, i.e. severed, clearly not by ‘accidental action’:
In the Gulf of Finland, the Rostelecom cable connecting Kingisepp with Kaliningrad was damaged again. What other incidents with underwater communication infrastructure occurred in the Baltic Sea-in the RBC infographic
On February 8, Rostelecom reported damage to its underwater telecommunications cable Baltika. It connects the Leningrad Region with Kaliningrad and partly passes through the economic zones of Finland and Sweden. The previous accident on the Baltika occurred on October 7, 2023.
The length of the underwater cable, which was apparently damaged, is 1,115 km. It connects Kaliningrad and Kingisepp in the Leningrad region.
The severing of this cable potentially cuts Kaliningrad’s communications from the Russian mainland.
Zerohedge details the pile-up of Baltic sea cable incidents of late:
Around the same time a Russian oil tanker suffered an ‘explosion’ in its port of Ust-Luga, which sits on the Gulf of Finland mere miles from the Estonian border:
Some Russian reports impute certain sabotage:
Enemy saboteurs probably worked in Ust-Luga. The recent explosion in the engine room of the Koala tanker (164,500 tons), according to sources of Ambrey Analytics (a company in the field of marine risk management), was associated with the installation of underwater mines on the outer part of the hull. Three explosions resulted in three holes: one 100 cm by 80 cm, and two large 4 by 2 meters.
Yesterday, the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service warned about upcoming terrorist attacks and incidents that Ukrainian intelligence plans to carry out in order to ban Russian cargo and ships from passing through the Baltic Sea. We are seeing the first such incident.
And as the above alludes to, Russian SVR suddenly announced that Ukraine is in the process of finalizing major provocations in the Baltic Sea area. The plan specifically includes blowing up a foreign ship to blame Russia, presumably as a putative Russian “response” to the Russian assets now being targeted in the region:
The SVR says that the special services of Ukraine, with the support of the West, are planning a series of high-profile anti-Russian provocations. The main task is to close Russia's access to the Baltic Sea under the pretext of Moscow's aggressive actions. The first terrorist attack may be the detonation of Russian/Soviet-made mines on a foreign ship in the Baltic waters. They are looking for people from Asia and the Middle East to carry out the terrorist attack, the salary is 20 thousand dollars, there are no contract details. The attacks will begin as soon as possible in order to weaken the Kremlin's negotiating position as soon as possible.
Lo and behold, on the heels of the above, major press outlets like Politico announce a renewed initiative to target and “seize” Russia’s shadow fleet:
Summary:
EU Pirates of the 21st Century: Baltic States Seek New Opportunities to Capture Russia's Shadow Fleet — Politico
▪️Finland, Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia are looking for loopholes in international law to seize Russian ships.
▪️The European Union is holding "behind-the-scenes talks" on a large-scale seizure of Russian oil export tankers, Politico writes.
▪️European countries bordering the Baltic Sea are developing new legislation to make it possible to seize ships on "environmental or piracy grounds."
▪️The new proposals come amid widespread frustration that Western sanctions against Russia are not working, as Moscow continues to ship its oil and evade sanctions.
▪️Now, countries are looking for a pretext to develop new national laws for the pirate seizure of more Russian ships, accusing the country of attacks on underwater infrastructure and environmental damage.
The article even names Ust-Luga as the critical port from which a vast portion of Russia’s oil transport originates:
As a result, “the shadow fleet is now transporting over 80 percent of all Russian crude oil,” said Isaac Levi, the Russia-Europe lead at the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air think tank.
The Baltic Sea is the critical artery for that illegal trade, he argued. The vessels are typically loaded with Russian oil at ports like Ust Luga near St. Petersburg before winding their way through the Gulf of Finland and across the Baltic Sea to the world’s oceans via the North Sea.
Last year, 348 shadow fleet vessels making up 40 percent of Russia’s total oil sales departed from Baltic ports, Levi said — a figure equivalent to a third of Moscow’s annual defense budget.
A Russian Duma Defense Committee chairman issued a threatening warning:
Any attack on our ships can be considered an attack on our territory, even if it is a vessel flying a foreign flag: this, by the way, is a completely common practice in maritime shipping. It is possible that we will respond not only with retaliatory measures, such as boarding Western ships in the Baltic Sea, but also with active actions by our Baltic Fleet.
Aleksey Zhuravlyov, the Deputy Chairman of the Defense Committee of the State Duma of the Russian Federation, in response to the clowning in the Baltic Sea.
Of course, the above is precisely what the string-pullers want.
The USAID-sponsored Politico rag devoted an entire new article to the warning, titling it “Russia lashes out at EU plans to seize its ‘shadow fleet’ in the Baltic Sea”. Funny how protecting your ships from illegal seizure amounts to “lashing out”, while the announcement to illegally seize a sovereign nation’s ships is couched in soft, accepting headlines.
Western press has long been rejoicing over NATO’s provocations dangerously backing Russia into a corner:
Meanwhile, the NATO Reichsmarschall continues beating his snare drum of war:
—
The next ‘happenstance’ was the grandiose performance the Baltics put on in disconnecting their little puffed-up gnome villages from the Russian electric grid. The level of absurd theatricality must be seen to be appreciated:
Three Baltic "tigers", led by Ursula von der Leyen are celebrating disconnection from the Russian energy system
Lithuanian President says "Goodbye, Russia! Goodbye, Lenin!" and others applause.
This is some kind of public demonstration of absolute feeblemindedness.
What Lenin? He died a hundred years ago. How does he influence the lives of Lithuanians?
Have you noticed the simple-minded immaturity, a kind of crassly ersatz Hollywood tincture to these performances the West puts on? Virtually everything seems made ‘for show’. Can you imagine Putin or Xi putting on such a display when signing their comprehensive partnerships with Iran, or other serious adult members of the world community?
The moment when Estonia's energy system was disconnected from Russia
⚡️Today, the Baltic countries (Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia) officially left the BRELL energy ring, disconnecting from the energy systems of the Russian Federation and Belarus.
"We have removed any theoretical possibility of Russia using energy [grid] control as a weapon," Lithuanian Energy Minister Zygimantas Vaiciunas said.
The Baltic countries spent nearly 1.6 billion euros ($2.6 billion) since 2018 to upgrade grids to prepare for the switch.
Queen of the Maggot Infested Empire, Ursula, posted the video of the full charade, frilled with more empty fanfare and highschool theatrics:
Some energy ‘independence’:
Congratulations, the electricity prices in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia are the highest prices in Europe.
Only Belgium has higher prices
Take that Pyutin!
But the play which skimmed under the radar was the Baltic power cut’s secret ulterior objective to pressure Kaliningrad’s power grid.
Report highlighted below:
The Kaliningrad Region power system has switched to autonomous operation mode.
This happened after Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia left the single energy ring with Russia and Belarus, the Ministry of Energy reports.
-> When the Baltics disconnected from the Russian grid and connected to the EU grid, to allegedly stop Putin’s non existent blackmail, they actually put pressure on Kaliningrad. Now Kaliningrad is in its own grid and can be pressured easier.
The government of the Kaliningrad Region prepared for this development in advance, the Ministry of Energy said.
“The total capacity of Kaliningrad power plants is 1.88 GW, which is more than twice the peak energy consumption of the region”
This is in conjunction with other work taking place in reportedly disconnecting Russian ships from Inmarsat satellite comms systems in the region, as recently outlined by Patrushev:
NATO wants to paralyze the work of Russian ports in the Leningrad and Kaliningrad regions
Chairman of the Russian Maritime Collegium Nikolai Patrushev
According to him, Western countries are disconnecting ships under the Russian flag from the Inmarsat satellite communications system - an integral component of the Global Maritime Distress and Emergency System.
❗️Russia has the will and resources to make NATO's dreams of turning the Baltic Sea into an "internal lake" of the alliance unrealistic, - Russian Ambassador to Finland Pavel Kuznetsov
Remember when last year Lithuania suddenly restricted rail cargo from Russia to Kaliningrad to escalate the same pressure. It is all integral to the coordinated effort to slowly isolate Kaliningrad in order to force a Russian reaction, preferably a military one, that can be used as justification for further hysteria and NATO military buildup, intervention, etc.
However, a month ago Politico had already unlidded a growing harsh reality—that the Maggot Queen’s nonstop attempts to turn the nations of the EU into her own personal geopolitical Ken-and-Barbie-Playhouse has begun to tire EU leaders:
How long before her and her rotten empire fatefully join Zelensky in the swirling porcelain bowl of history?
Your support is invaluable. If you enjoyed the read, I would greatly appreciate if you subscribed to a monthly/yearly pledge to support my work, so that I may continue providing you with detailed, incisive reports like this one.
Alternatively, you can tip here: buymeacoffee.com/Simplicius
Population of the countries involved in the Baltic Sea conflict:
• Russia: 146 million
• Sweden: 10.5 million
• Finland: 5.5 million
• Estonia: 1.3 million
• Lithuania: 2.8 million
• Latvia: 1.9 million
Well, good luck pressuring Russia. If things continue to escalate, Russia will group vessels into convoys with military escorts along the entire route through the Baltic Sea.
Keep the Russians out, the Americans in, and the Germans down - this has always been NATO's true purpose.