Russia and China began joint naval exercises in the Baltic sea that has become the most significant demonstration of military cooperation between the major powers in the region, which is considered the epicenter of the rivalry between Moscow and the Western military Alliance NATO.
On Friday, June 30, Ambassador of Russia in China Andrei Denisov acknowledged that these joint exercises of Russian and Chinese armed forces are unique in the sense that they are held in the Baltic region. However, he stressed that these exercises are not designed to “scare away” opponents. The Baltic States became the epicenter of confrontation between Russia and NATO, which has sent a lot of military resources to strengthen their borders in the region. NATO and Russia blame each other for inciting an arms race in Europe, but on Friday Denisov called anxiety of the West are groundless.
“There is a certain novelty, but I have not heard anyone expressed serious concern about so-called threats. The Baltic States repeat their usual statements, but at the same time, they take for granted the fact that NATO puts numerous troops on their territory,” said Denisov in an interview with state news Agency TASS.
“Those who are afraid that they will scare”, he added.
Exercises “Sea interaction-2017” started last week, when a detachment of ships of the Chinese Navy consisting of the destroyer “Changsha”, frigate “Yuncheng”, support vessel “Lamaha” and several helicopters napravilsya in Saint Petersburg and Kaliningrad Baltic enclave located between Lithuania and Poland. This was reported by the news Agency Xinhua and Reuters. A few days later, according to some reports, over the Baltic sea, an incident occurred in which an American spy plane and a Russian plane flew at a distance of 2 meters from each other. USA and Russia do not recognize their guilt, shifting it to each other.
Last week the Minister of foreign Affairs of Lithuania Linas Linkevičius (Linas Linkevicius) told reporters that China’s cooperation with Russia, which he called a country “with their actions feed a bad example in real life”, could threaten the stability of the region, as reported by the newspaper The Baltic Times. In response, the Russian defense Ministry issued a statement in which he stressed that such teaching is common practice and that they are aimed at “strengthening of Russian-Chinese relations of comprehensive strategic cooperation”. Additional exercises are scheduled for mid July.
Comments Denisov was published just one day after Russia and China signed a road map for defense cooperation, and planned on the eve of XI Jinping’s visit to Russia at the invitation of his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. It is expected that during the two-day visit the two leaders will discuss “the whole complex of issues in a comprehensive partnership and strategic cooperation between Russia and China, as well as topical international and regional problems,” as stated on the official website of the Kremlin, where it is also specified that the leaders will sign several bilateral agreements.
Commentators often call Russia and China, countries that occupy the second and third places in the list of the most militarily strong powers after the United States. Russia and China have repeatedly campaigned against initiatives proposed by the West in the UN, and Russia recently intervened in a political dispute between the U.S. and China, arising in connection with the actions of North Korea.
