NATO could cut Russia’s Baltic lifeline ‘within hours’ of attack

NATO can close the Baltic Sea “within hours” and cut the Russian economy’s “lifeline” if President Putin carries out an attack on Europe that triggers the alliance’s collective defence clause, Estonia’s foreign minister has said.

A blockade by allies of an international waterway between Estonia and Finland would create an “existential” crisis for Moscow, Margus Tsahkna said during a visit to London on Wednesday when he was due to meet ministers to discuss the Russian threat.

Russian ships leaving St Petersburg have to transit a corridor 216 nautical miles long, most of it bordered by NATO member states, to reach the open Baltic Sea, through which about 60 per cent of Russia’s seaborne oil exports are transported.

The corridor also enables Russia to move naval vessels between the mainland and Kaliningrad, the Russian exclave that lies between Poland and Lithuania.

Tsahkna said: “We are able to form within hours [a force of] 50,000 experienced combat troops. We have all these capabilities. The concept of NATO deterrence is, if Russia is invading, there will be the military aggression. We will be able to close the Baltic Sea within hours. This is a lifeline for the Russian economy.”

He said it was “nonsense” to depict NATO as an offensive organisation but warned that if Russia started a war, then “there are plans and there are practical steps” the alliance could take.

Under Article 5 of NATO’s founding treaty, an attack on one member is considered an attack on all.

Although Russia has carried out hybrid attacks on NATO allies, with drone incursions and sabotage attempts, it is yet to carry out a conventional attack that would trigger a full-scale NATO military response.

Tsahkna said that allies had not carried out a blockade of the narrow waterway so far because they were following rules-based international principles.

However, it was “defence logic” that in the event of Russian military aggression “then they are going to lose their lifeline. The Black Sea is already closed. For Russia, [the Baltic Sea] is existential,” he said.