Russia’s provocations and sabotage in the Baltic lead Europeans to mark territory in a Cold War climate

The leaders of the Union see, with more and more concern, the naturalness with which the Russian fighters turn on and off their signals to measure the allied defenses, with which the Chinese Navy ships navigate the Baltic waters, the mysterious ruptures of submarine cables, the obstinacy for this region of the world and not for another. The German Defense Minister Boris Pistoriusshared his perspective yesterday in a radio interview. “It is a behavior that we know from the Cold War”he said on the Deutschlandfunk radio station. “It’s nothing new, it’s coming back and it seems more aggressive than before.”

The Germans are, in fact, one of the main targets of intimidation directed from Moscow. The Foreign Minister, Annalena Baerbockreported on Wednesday in Brussels the attack suffered by a German patrol helicopter in the Baltic, which was fired upon from a Russian ship with signaling ammunition. “Russia is nervous,” Pistorius added, “and it is important that we are present in the Baltic Sea, together with the other allies, that we do not give up our efforts.”

To begin with, then, the Germans have promised more military presence in the area and less mincing words to give surnames to those who threaten the security of Europeans.

Only the November newspaper library already records two intriguing events. First an underwater telecommunications cable broke between Finland and Germany, then another between Sweden and Lithuania. There is a cargo ship still stranded in the area that the authorities of the countries involved are investigating. It is called Yi Peng 3 and has a Chinese flag. The Nordics remembered, without much effort, October 2023. Then, the breakdown of a gas pipeline and a cable (both submarines) between Latvia and Finland had, as the main suspect, a ship called Newnew Polar Bear where The Chinese flag also flew.

The Europeans are trying to reinforce security, yes, and at the same time modernize their infrastructure. Yesterday, The European Commission announced an additional 142 million euros for this effort. “Submarine cables carry more than 98% of global telecommunications traffic and play an essential role for resilience and digital connectivity,” he summarized in a statement. The beneficiaries of the subsidies, he specified, will be “companies controlled by the European Union,” and will only accept the use of “secure technology.” In short, competition from foreign companies will not be accepted.

Of course, Europeans are not only worried about the Chinese and Russians in the Baltic waters, Nordic air and Ukrainian soil. Romanians will vote, this Sunday, in the second round of the presidential elections. The experience of the first, twelve days ago, left a doubt and a certainty.

The doubt was born from the rapid rise of a pro-Russian, anti-Western and unknown candidate called Calin Georgescu. The polls gave him about 6% of the votes. His visibility skyrocketed in an extraordinary way on the Chinese social network TikTok, however, and he ended up being the most voted—with suspicions of buying wills included. The certainty is that Moscow is involved in its growth in more ways than one. “Romanian authorities are uncovering a large-scale, well-funded Russian effort to influence the recent presidential elections,” the US Secretary of State denounced yesterday. Anthony Blinkenfollowing a meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe organized in Valletta.

This Sunday, Georgescu competes for the next four years of presidency in Romania with the social democratic and pro-European candidate Elena Lasconiwith a campaign focused on independence from Russia and the value of protecting democracy. The polls anticipate a close battle with a candidate who advocates the opposite.