What happened in the Baltic Sea (Russian sabotage)and will undoubtedly happen again – what do we do about it as a European family? If a saboteur caught red-handed – what\u2019s next? Are EU law and law enforcers ready for\u00a0the\u00a0challenge?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In this interview with\u00a0Ivan Stupak<\/strong>\u00a0we discuss\u00a0these\u00a0topics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2014 I hope you heard what happened in the Baltic Sea and what will undoubtedly happen again. This is Russian sabotage strategy\u2014that’s what it is. What do we do about it as a European family?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2014 Okay, so we have to understand it\u2019s not happening for the first time. It\u2019s not happening for the second time. It\u2019s happening for the third, and it will happen in the near future because it\u2019s a classic strategy of the Russian Federation. And I will tell you more\u2014it\u2019s a classic strategy of the Soviet Union, subversive operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Maybe in Soviet times, there weren\u2019t any optic wires located on the seabed, but nevertheless, they tried, and they operated with the same level of subversive operations. So, what we have to do in this particular case, from my point of view, is every country located next to the Baltic Sea\u2014I mean Finland, Norway, the Baltic countries, etc.\u2014has to create or establish some special rules.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Also, we need to know how to counteract these subversive operations. As a punishment, when such operations are conducted and law enforcement agencies\u2014be it Finland, Norway, or Estonia\u2014capture this vessel and detain the crew, the vessel should be sold at auction. This would act as a result of the judgment to recover the cost of repairing the fiber cables they damaged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2014 That\u2019s an interesting point. But are you telling me that if, for example, we catch a ship damaging a cable, we just sell it? What happens to the crew? What about the people? If it\u2019s a Russian-flagged ship, we understand they\u2019re enemies or saboteurs. But what if it\u2019s, I don\u2019t know, under a Panama flag or some other country\u2019s flag?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2014 I agree with you. There should be an investigation. Interrogation must be conducted to understand who is involved\u2014who is a friend and who is a foe. It\u2019s also essential to determine the intentions of the captain and the crew or whether there were any suspicious individuals on board.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Every condition needs to be studied, and the judiciary should decide whether they\u2019re guilty or not. From my perspective, however, the vessel should still be sold at auction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2014 I agree. The idea of seeing a Russian vessel sold and the money going to Lithuania or Estonia sounds appealing. Especially when they\u2019ve damaged something like a fiber cable. But this isn\u2019t just an isolated incident. The Baltic Sea has become Russia\u2019s imperial playground. They do whatever they want and claim it wasn\u2019t them, while Europe hesitates and wonders if it really was Russia. How do we push the European legislative system and law enforcement to act more decisively?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2014 You\u2019ve got a point. As we discussed before, dictatorship regimes like Russia\u2019s are often more effective in executing their plans compared to democratic systems. Democracies have to conduct election campaigns, pay attention to opposition parties, and consider public opinion. But dictatorships like Vladimir Putin\u2019s Russia or Kim Jong-un\u2019s North Korea focus solely on their own egos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Democracies need to be more decisive. Countries like Finland, Norway, and Estonia should empower their law enforcement agencies to investigate these subversive operations and impose severe punishments. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n I\u2019m not familiar with the specific laws or traditions in these countries, but I think their systems need to be updated for stricter consequences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2014 That\u2019s exactly the point I wanted to highlight\u2014the need for legislative changes to allow law enforcement to act appropriately. What\u2019s happening is clearly sabotage.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2014 Absolutely, 100%. And this issue extends to the political level. High-ranking politicians need to acknowledge that we\u2019re dealing with Russian secret subversive operations. We\u2019re dealing with former KGB agents. If memory serves me right, around 52% of high-ranking officials in the Russian government are directly or indirectly connected to the KGB or its successors like the Federal Security Service. That\u2019s an extraordinary number of spies in the Russian government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n