(VOA News) --- Lithuania sent a protest note to Russia Thursday for repeated naval activities in
its exclusive economic zone in the Baltic Sea .
The foreign
ministry of the Baltic state summoned the Russian ambassador in Vilnius to deliver the
protest accusing the Kremlin's warships of disrupting peaceful shipping and
economic activity of the country.
Similar incidents
have occurred on March 19, April 10 and April 24, for which Lithuania sent protest notes to Russia ’s
foreign ministry, but did not receive any response.
Russian authorities
have never asked Lithuanian institutions or received any prior authorization
for such activities in the exclusive economic zone of Lithuania, the foreign
ministry said in a statement.
In the note, Lithuania demands that Russia ceases
interfering with international shipping and economic activities in the
exclusive economic zone of Lithuania, and comply with the United Nations
Convention on the Law of the Sea that prescribes sovereign rights of coastal
states in their exclusive economic zones.
The 400-kilometer
underwater cable link is expected to bring the Baltic EU states into the energy
grid of their Nordic partners, intended to reduce the dependency on Russian
supplies.
The link is
estimated to cost $615 million and stretch from the Lithuanian port of Klaipeda
to Nybro in Sweden .
The operation is
scheduled to start in December 2015.
No comments:
Post a Comment