Free Republic

MOSCOW/VILNIUS, Feb 13 (Reuters) - Russian police have put Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas, Lithuania's culture minister, and members of the previous Latvian parliament on a wanted list for destroying Soviet-era monuments, according to the Russian interior ministry's database. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Kallas was wanted for the "desecration of historical memory". Russian state agency TASS said the Baltic officials were accused of "destroying monuments to Soviet soldiers", acts that are punishable by a five-year prison term under the Russian criminal code. *snip* The Baltic governments regard the monuments as propaganda tools constructed by their former imperial overlords. "The...

Estonia’s domestic security agency said on Tuesday that it had apprehended 10 people suspected of sabotage and of spreading fear and creating tension within the Baltic country in a coordinated "hybrid operation" by Russia’s special services. Among the suspects — detained between December and February — are individuals believed to have broken the car windows of Interior Minister Lauri Läänemets and a local journalist in December, the Estonian Internal Security Service said. "The information currently collected in criminal proceedings indicate that the Russian special service had coordinated a hybrid operation against the security of the Republic of Estonia, involving the...

Researchers from the Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research in Warnemünde report the discovery of an ancient, 10,000-year-old massive stone wall that has remained submerged beneath the Baltic Sea for millennia.At nearly a kilometer in length, the Stone Age megastructure hidden beneath the waters of the Bay of Mecklenburg in Germany is not only one of the oldest man-made hunting structures in Europe but likely one of the oldest pieces of construction in the entire world."It was likely constructed by hunter–gatherer groups more than 10000 y ago and ultimately drowned during the Littorina transgression at 8500 y B.P.," the researchers...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has arrived in Latvia, the final stop on his Baltic mini-tour as he attempts to drum up further support and particularly more missiles for his nation’s taxed air defence system. Ukraine has proven stopping Russia is possible, but it “badly” needs modern air defence systems, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said as he tours European nations again, seeking more arms for his defensive war against Russia. His visits to the first two tour stops Lithuania and Estonia were fruitful, with new support packages announced, and he arrived in Latvia, the final stop, on Thursday afternoon. As...

Civil Defence Minister Carl-Oskar Bohlin told a defence conference "there could be war in Sweden". His message was then backed up by military commander-in-chief Gen Micael Byden, who said all Swedes should prepare mentally for the possibility. However, opposition politicians have objected to the tone of the warnings. Ex-prime minister Magdalena Andersson told Swedish TV that while the security situation was serious, "it is not as if war is just outside the door." Children's rights organisation Bris said that its national helpline did not usually receive calls about the possibility of war. But this week, it had seen an increase...

Earlier this month, as the world’s attention was focused on the horror unfolding in Israel and Gaza, it was easy to miss the news that two subsea telecommunications cables and a gas pipeline in the Baltic Sea had been damaged. On the night of 7 October, the 77-kilometre Balticconnector gas pipeline and a separate but close-by subsea telecommunications cable stretching between Finland and Estonia were damaged in the Gulf of Finland. A week later, it emerged that, on the same night, another subsea telecommunications cable—connecting Estonia and Sweden—had also been damaged. (snip) This case, however, appears to have been no...

The pipe was not covered with aggregate, although such a cover was intended to protect the pipe specifically from anchor damage. (BORDER GUARD DEPARTMENT) The Balticconnector gas pipeline between Finland and Estonia should have been protected by a 2-meter gravel cover. This is evident from the joint environmental impact assessment of Finland and Estonia from 2015. The assessment specifically took into account the dragging of the anchor along the seabed. The pictures published by the [Finnish] Navy show that there were no rocks protecting the pipe at the point of damage." https://www.iltalehti.fi/kotimaa/a/3a...

The three incidents that resulted in damage to a gas pipeline and two telecom cables between Estonia, Finland and Sweden "are related", Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas said. Finland on Friday said it had raised its risk assessment for gas supply security as a result of the damage to the Balticconnector Finland-Estonia pipeline, which operator Gasgrid has said could be out of commission until April or longer. "An important gas import connection will be out of use during the winter season 2023/2024 for at least five months," the Finnish National Emergency Supply Agency said in a statement. The risk level...

An Excavation Project, in Collaboration With Archaeologists From Södertörn University, Uppsala University's Campus Gotland, Gotland Museum, and the Swedish National Heritage Board, Has Led to the Discovery of an Iron Age Port on Gotska Sandön.Gotska Sandön is an island and national park in Sweden's Gotland County, situated 24 miles north of Faro in the Baltic Sea.Earlier in 2023, archaeologists found two 2,000-year-old Roman coins on one of the island's beaches. Both coins are made of silver, with one coin dating from AD 98-117 during the reign of Emperor Trajan, and the other coin dating from AD 138-161 during the reign...

An international research team led by maritime archaeologist Staffan von Arbin of the University of Gothenburg has studied what might be Europe's oldest shipboard cannon. The cannon was found in the sea off Marstrand on the Swedish west coast and dates back to the 14th century. The findings from the interdisciplinary study contribute new knowledge about the early development of artillery on land and at sea, but also bears witness to a troubled period for seafarers as well as coastal populations. The small, muzzle-loading cast copper-alloy cannon, found by a recreational diver at a depth of 20 metres in the...

VIDEOYet another suspect in Nord Stream pipeline bombing has been suggested by the Washington Post. First it was blamed on the Russians. Then Seymour Hersh reported it was the USA. After that it was blamed on a group of rogue Ukrainians and now the Washington Post claims it was the Ukrainian military who bombed the pipeline with the full knowledge in advance by the Americans. However, isn't the all too obvious suspect being overlooked? In this video you will be given slight clues as to who are most likely the REAL perps. So put on your Sherlock Holmes caps and...

The royal warship Vasa is seen at the Vasamuseet museum in Stockholm on April 24, 2011. (Scanpix Sweden, Anders Wiklund/AP Photo) ================================================================= COPENHAGEN, Denmark—A U.S. military laboratory has helped Swedes confirm what was suspected for years: A woman was among those who died on a 17th-century warship that sank on its maiden voyage, the museum that displays the ship said Tuesday. The wreck of the royal warship Vasa was raised in 1961, and was remarkably well-preserved after more than 300 years underwater in the Stockholm harbor. It has since been place at the Vasa Museum, one of Stockholm’s top tourist...

In the summer of 1495, King Hans of Denmark and Norway anchored his warship off the southern coast of Sweden. While Hans was on land, his vessel—known as Gribshunden or Griffen—mysteriously caught fire and sank to the bottom of the Baltic Sea.Hans was on his way to Kalmar, where he hoped to be elected king of Sweden and reunite the broader Nordic region under a single ruler. As such, Hans brought many opulent status symbols, including luxurious foods and spices, to help persuade the Swedish leadership to agree to his plan.Remarkably, many of those foods and spices have survived underwater...

The Baltic Dry Index fell further today after yesterday’s biggest daily percentage drop since 1984. Jan 4 (Reuters) – The Baltic Exchange’s dry bulk sea freight index extended its decline to hit an over one-month low on Wednesday, weighed by weaker demand across vessel segments. * The overall index, which factors in rates for capesize, panamax and supramax shipping vessels carrying dry bulk commodities, lost 74 points, or 5.9%, to 1,176, a day after posting its biggest daily percentage loss in decades. * The capesize index dropped 119 points, or 7.3%, to 1,516, its lowest in more than four weeks....

However, the attacks on Nord Stream are more dire than anything we previously saw. This act of sabotage signals a point of no return. The economic damage caused by these attacks is going to land Europe in a recession as deep as the recession of 2009. The environmental damage is immense, with millions of tons of methane polluting the ocean and environment. This winter, Europe is doomed to face the worst energy crisis since the Arab oil embargo of 1974, or worse. European leaders have already identified and condemned Russia as the obvious culprit. Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki described...

President Donald Trump publicly rebuked German Chancellor Angela Merkel on July 11 for Germany’s decision to buy a massive amount of gas from Russia. “I think it’s very sad,” he said. "Germany is totally controlled by Russia,” he later said, “I think it’s a very bad thing for nato and I don’t think it should have happened.” Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 are key components of Putin’s plan to tighten his grip on nations in Eastern Europe that used to be part of the Soviet Empire. Since these pipelines travel directly from Russia to Germany, they enable Putin to...

The sanctions target companies that are involved in constructing the massive energy project that will transport Russian gas supplies under the Baltic Sea and deliver them directly to Germany. Under the sanctions, the Trump administration now has 60 days to identify companies and individuals providing services on the pipeline. The sanctions allow Washington to revoke US visas and block the property of these individuals. Those targeted by the sanctions would then have 30 days to wind down their operations.

The Russian energy giant said it was cutting supply volumes to Germany through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline by roughly another third, after an initial reduction on Tuesday. Russian energy giant Gazprom said on Wednesday it would further reduce the capacity of gas supplies via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline to 67 million cubic meters (2,366 million cubic feet) per day. The decision comes into effect at 01:30 a.m. Moscow time on Thursday (2230 UTC on Wednesday), Gazprom said, adding that the halt was due to the "technical condition of the engine" at a compression station. The company had announced...

The Swiss-based company which built the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia to Germany is considering filing for insolvency, two sources familiar with the situation said, as it attempts to settle claims ahead of a U.S. sanction deadline for other entities to stop dealings with it. The United States sanctioned Nord Stream 2 AG last week after Russia recognised two breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine prior to its invasion of the country, which has prompted a wave of economic sanctions by the West. Nord Stream 2 AG, which is registered in Switzerland and owned by Russian state-owned gas giant...

Are Berlin’s close energy ties with Moscow paying off? Data from Russia’s Federal Customs Service shows they might be after Germany paid less for natural gas from the world’s largest exporter than most other buyers. Only the U.K., which produces most of its own gas, had lower import costs among the biggest offtakers, according to the figures obtained by Bloomberg and detailed in the chart below. Chancellor Angela Merkel has worked to strengthen the energy relationship with Russia, bucking U.S. pressure to punish Vladimir Putin’s interference in Syria and elections across the west. Germany has backed projects such as Gazprom...