A senior Russian official has said that Moscow will counter any moves by Western military alliance NATO to dominate the Baltic Sea.
Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko told the Russian television channel Rossiya-24 on Friday that the Western alliance's decision to increase patrols around the Baltic was further proof of NATO's "desire to turn the Baltic Sea into a NATO lake."
"This will not happen for many reasons, and one of the main reasons is, of course, that the Russian Federation will not allow it."
Russia's position on the Baltic Sea has been weakened by the accession of Finland and Sweden to NATO. The air link to its Kaliningrad exclave on the coast runs through a narrow international air corridor.
The two NATO neighbours have said they will step up patrols by their air and naval forces.
The decision came in response to several incidents of damage to power supply cables on the seabed, with Russia suspected of being behind the vandalism.
In addition, Western allies say that a "shadow fleet" of unregistered tankers is operating in the Baltic Sea, apparently intended to circumvent Western sanctions targeting the Russian oil trade.
