The Estonian authorities recently announced that they are considering establishing a neighboring region in the Gulf of Finland, a step that would isolate Russia's St. Petersburg and Leningrad region and cut off the sea route leading to them, according to an article published by the Russian Strategic Center for Cultures.

The Russian journalist, Artyom Ignatiev, commented, in an article published by the center's website, that the Estonian authorities are planning to close the Gulf of Finland in the face of Russia, and that this step may spark a serious conflict between the Baltic states.

Ignatiev said that Estonia's extension of its authority over the neighboring maritime area in the Gulf of Finland enables its authorities to pursue perpetrators of violations outside its borders, to inspect Russian civilian and military ships leaving the ports of the Leningrad region and Kronstadt, and to prevent those ships from crossing the Gulf if they refuse to submit to inspection.

He pointed out that the plans announced by Tallinn (the capital of Estonia) are a flagrant violation of international law.

Where Article 14 of the United Nations Convention on the Territorial Sea and the Contiguous Area of ​​1964 provides for the free passage of ships in territorial waters, while Article 15 of the same Convention stipulates that coastal states must not prevent the passage of ships through the territorial sea adjacent to them.

The Russian writer went on to say that Estonia and Finland, one of which enjoys membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) while the other intends to join it, see that they can obstruct work in the port of St. Petersburg, which is the largest port in Russia and the Baltic Sea, and they need support from the West to do so. Britain has shown its willingness to provide that support.


British Estonian road map

The article touched on many developments and events that the writer believes fall within the framework of the West's use of Estonia in its war against Russia. Britain transported the British "Challenger 2" tanks to Estonia by sea in October of last year, as London mentioned before that that Estonia had received 700 British volunteers to fight with the Ukrainian army against Russia in February last year.

He said that the number of military battalions deployed by NATO in the country near the Belarusian border reached between 17 and 18 battalions in October, and this number was later reinforced by another British battalion equipped with heavy tanks.

According to a new Estonian-British road map, Estonia will build additional accommodation facilities for foreign forces at the Taba military base by May of this year, and will also build a new logistical control center to receive the Allied forces by the end of the year, in addition to that Tallinn will work throughout this year on Establishing and licensing a headquarters that will be a command center for all NATO forces in Estonia, according to the Russian writer's article.

Moscow accuses Tallinn of "hostility to Russia"

The Russian Foreign Ministry announced last Monday the expulsion of the Estonian ambassador and the reduction of diplomatic relations between the two countries to the charge d'affairs, accusing Tallinn of "hostility to Russia."

The move came in response to Estonia's expulsion earlier this January of 21 Russian diplomats and other employees of the Russian embassy.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said - in a statement - that it had summoned the Estonian ambassador, M.

Leder and handed him a stern protest against the actions of the Estonian authorities.

The statement added that the Estonian ambassador was informed that he must leave Russia before the seventh of February next.

Relations between Russia and its neighbor Estonia - the former Soviet republic and current member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) - have been strained by the war in Ukraine.

The Estonian ambassador in Kyiv announced his country's approval to provide Ukraine with a military aid package worth 113 million euros.

The ambassador described the package as the largest in his country's history, and that it is equal to 1% of its gross product, indicating that Estonia wants, with this decision, to set a precedent so that other countries do not have any excuses for not supplying weapons to Ukraine, he said.