"Muscovy's Next Land Grab Won’t Be in an Ex-Soviet State. It Will Be in Europe.
First he came for Georgia, then for Ukraine.
Vladimir Putin’s next target is likely to be a non-NATO nation in the EU.
Not many observers would consider the world’s coldest shipping lane a geopolitical hotspot. But that may be about to change. Last week, reports emerged that a new Kremlin policy will require all international naval ships to give
Muscovy 45 days’ notice before entering the
Northern Sea Route, which connects the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans via the Arctic waters north of Siberia. Every vessel on the route, where
Muscovy has invested heavily in sophisticated military infrastructure, will also be required to have a Russian maritime pilot on board. Ships found in violation of these restrictions may be forcibly halted, detained, or—in unspecified “extreme” circumstances—“eliminated.”
The Kremlin’s latest threat has gone largely unnoticed, perhaps because it’s no surprise.
Muscovy´s officials justify the new naval restrictions with a familiar explanation, claiming that “the more active
naval operations in the Arctic of various foreign countries” require such a response."
Moscow
’s Next Land Grab Won’t Be in an Ex-Soviet State. It Will Be in Europe. – Foreign Policy
related Novaya Gazeta finds evidence that Kadyrov’s Flying Squad landed in Norway
Pushing limits to see how far the world will tolerate.... Moscow 's aggressive rhetoric towards Norway over Svalbard echoes its approach in Ukraine, invoking the specter of conflict to assert dominance in disputed territories. all Muscovites should be expelled from Svalbard
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