RUSSIAN NAVY VIOLATES DANISH TERRITORIAL WATERS: And of course denies it. This report is from Reuters:
A Russian warship early on Friday twice violated Danish territorial waters north of the Baltic Sea island of Bornholm where a democracy festival attended by senior officials and business people was taking place, the Danish Armed Forces said.
Denmark called the action an unacceptable provocation. The Russian embassy in Copenhagen said the Danes provided no evidence.
The report has more details but this factoid deserves attention: “Ukraine’s defence minister said last month that Ukraine had started receiving Harpoon missiles from Denmark…” The report also notes two Harpoon missiles struck a Russian tug in the Black Sea.
For historical context, review my 2015 column The Bluff Attack On Bornholm: Kremlin Tests NATO Solidarity. The column discusses a mid-June 2014 “bluff” attack on Bornholm by Russian aircraft armed with live missiles.
The Bornholm faux-attack reprised Soviet Cold War “tests” of Danish defenses and is but one of a score of serious Russian military probes since 2008 designed to rattle Northern Europe.
Fake attack by armed Russian aircraft in mid-June 2014, sea violations by a Russian warship in mid-June 2022. An island folk festival was occurring in 2014; this year Denmark billed it as a folk festival celebrating democracy. A festival insures there’ll lots of civilians to frighten and extra media as well.
The 2015 column noted: “…Putin-era Kremlin belligerence has sparked a sea change in Sweden. When regional powers make political demands, smaller nations always react. Often they accommodate, perhaps appease. However, when a regional power actually pulls its sabers — and especially when the bully makes territorial threats — good golly, sometimes the small nations don’t cower.”
Putin has become more vicious — and Sweden and Finland want to join NATO.
More on Bornholm’s location and importance: “Located in the Baltic Sea east of peninsular Denmark, north of Poland’s coast and to the rear of what was East Germany, Bornholm gave the Free World [an] outpost north of and behind Warsaw Pact lines.”
UPDATE: The Mirror has a picture of the Russian naval vessel off Bornholm.