It was not only provocative when Denmark last week sent a military aircraft for exercise inside the Barents Sea in a Russian zone northeast of Norway.
It also happened on false premises.
This is how it sounds now from Russia’s ambassador to Denmark, Vladimir V. Barbin, who was previously his country’s Arctic ambassador.
“Such exercises close to the Russian border provoke a doubt about how real our Arctic neighbors mean when they say they want to maintain the region as a low-voltage area,” Barbin said in a written statement to Ritzau.
The Danish patrol aircraft took part in a naval exercise around 8 September, in which the USA, Great Britain and Norway sent warships into Russia’s exclusive economic zone.
Denmark only contributed with the unarmed aircraft.
The exercise took place in a sea area off the part of the coast where Russia hides most of its nuclear weapons and strategically important submarines.
Therefore, the Allied warships and aircraft were quite obviously a thorn in the side of the Russian military.
Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod (S) explained after a meeting of the Foreign Policy Board on 10 September that Denmark contributed to the exercise because it was about ensuring “free navigation” in the area.
He also stressed that the exercise was unproblematic because it was “perfectly transparent”.
Both, however, dismiss Vladimir Barbin as nonsense.
– These naval exercises are held under the false pretext that they maintain free navigation, which has never been endangered or questioned in the Barents Sea, he says.
Barbin also denies that the exercise was “transparent.”
– Transparency presupposes prior notice, the provision of exhaustive information on the naval exercise and the presence of observers from interested States. None of this has happened.
He further claims that the transponders that make it possible to locate warships on exercises were extinguished during parts of the exercise.
At the Defense Academy, military analyst Anders Puck Nielsen is an expert in naval operations.
And like the Russian ambassador, he flatly rejects Jeppe Kofod’s interpretation that the exercise was about ensuring that ships can sail freely in the area.
– It’s a silly argument. Freedom of Navigation operations presuppose that free navigation is in some way challenged, but it is by no means the case that the Russians have indicated that the Barents Sea was closed.
Question: So what was the exercise about?
– For me to see it is about military deterrence and great power positioning, says Anders Puck Nielsen.
Ritzau has again asked Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod why Denmark contributed to an exercise that Russia might perceive as provocative and hostile.
The Minister has the answer in an e-mail:
– As the world’s fifth largest maritime nation, it is important that we on the Danish side safeguard the right to free navigation. The exercise took place in accordance with international rules, and there was full transparency towards Russia.
– So I have a hard time seeing that Russia should be able to perceive the exercise as provocative or hostile.
“Such exercises close to the Russian border provoke a doubt about how real our Arctic neighbors mean when they say they want to maintain the region as a low-voltage area,” Barbin said in a written statement to Ritzau.
The Danish patrol aircraft took part in a naval exercise around 8 September, in which the USA, Great Britain and Norway sent warships into Russia’s exclusive economic zone.
Denmark only contributed with the unarmed aircraft.
The exercise took place in a sea area off the part of the coast where Russia hides most of its nuclear weapons and strategically important submarines.
Therefore, the Allied warships and aircraft were quite obviously a thorn in the side of the Russian military.
Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod (S) explained after a meeting of the Foreign Policy Board on 10 September that Denmark contributed to the exercise because it was about ensuring “free navigation” in the area.
He also stressed that the exercise was unproblematic because it was “perfectly transparent”.
Both, however, dismiss Vladimir Barbin as nonsense.
– These naval exercises are held under the false pretext that they maintain free navigation, which has never been endangered or questioned in the Barents Sea, he says.
Barbin also denies that the exercise was “transparent.”
– Transparency presupposes prior notice, the provision of exhaustive information on the naval exercise and the presence of observers from interested States. None of this has happened.
He further claims that the transponders that make it possible to locate warships on exercises were extinguished during parts of the exercise.
At the Defense Academy, military analyst Anders Puck Nielsen is an expert in naval operations.
And like the Russian ambassador, he flatly rejects Jeppe Kofod’s interpretation that the exercise was about ensuring that ships can sail freely in the area.
– It’s a silly argument. Freedom of Navigation operations presuppose that free navigation is in some way challenged, but it is by no means the case that the Russians have indicated that the Barents Sea was closed.
Question: So what was the exercise about?
– For me to see it is about military deterrence and great power positioning, says Anders Puck Nielsen.
Ritzau has again asked Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod why Denmark contributed to an exercise that Russia might perceive as provocative and hostile.
The Minister has the answer in an e-mail:
– As the world’s fifth largest maritime nation, it is important that we on the Danish side safeguard the right to free navigation. The exercise took place in accordance with international rules, and there was full transparency towards Russia.
– So I have a hard time seeing that Russia should be able to perceive the exercise as provocative or hostile.
Source: The Nordic Page