The Diplomat
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, yesterday rejected “Russia’s provocations” on the borders with Estonia, Lithuania and Finland, in relation to Moscow’s maneuvers to unilaterally alter its delimitations with these three countries.
“We reject Russia’s provocations at the borders of the European Union,” Albares declared through the social network X. “These aggressive and unfriendly acts are another attempt to destabilize the region,” he continued. “All our support to Estonia, Lithuania and Finland, EU and NATO partners,” he concluded.
Russian border guards unilaterally removed, in the early hours of Thursday to Friday, the luminous buoys placed by Estonia in the Narva River to delimit the border with Russia. The incident comes shortly after authorities in the Baltic states accused Moscow of trying to unilaterally change its maritime border with Lithuania and in the Gulf of Finland that separates Estonia from Finland. Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas has described these events as a “border incident whose exact circumstances are becoming clearer.”
The EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security, Josep Borrell, reported in a statement on Thursday that “the European Union has closely followed the situation from the beginning in cooperation and solidarity with Estonia and other Member States.”
“This border incident is part of a broader pattern of provocative behavior and hybrid actions by Russia, including on its maritime and land borders in the Baltic Sea region,” he denounced. “These types of actions are unacceptable. The European Union expects an explanation from Russia regarding the removal of the buoys and their immediate return,” Borrell added.
