A NATO naval headquarters has been officially opened in Germany to beef up the alliance's supervision of the Baltic Sea in view of the threat posed by Russia.
The Commander Task Force (CTF) Baltic center in the German port city of Rostock was inaugurated as tensions continue to soar between the alliance and Moscow amid the security concerns posed by Vladimir Putin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Germany's defense minister, Boris Pistorius, said on Monday the new headquarters will help protect NATO countries from aggression, "especially in connection with the proximity to Russia."
Newsweek contacted the Russian foreign ministry for comment by email.
NATO's eastern flank members have accused Moscow of hybrid attacks, which include covert operations like disinformation as well as cyberattacks and GPS jamming over the Baltic Sea. Finland, which joined the alliance last year has accused Russia of pushing migrants toward its frontiers.
Russia has ports on the Baltic Sea in the exclave of Kaliningrad and around St. Petersburg. The addition of Sweden and Finland to the alliance has led the body of water, which is an important supply route for the alliance and neighboring allied countries, to be dubbed the "NATO Lake."
The new headquarters will be helmed by a German admiral and staffed by 60 officers from 11 NATO nations. It will plan joint naval drills with allies and partners and direct NATO's naval operations.
"Russian aggression manifests in various ways, such as cyber and hybrid threats, which continue to blur the lines between peace and war," Pistorius said. "We must defend ourselves and do whatever we can to support our partners at NATO's eastern flank."
Berlin has also accused Moscow of increasing its spying and sabotage activities against countries in the West, and Germany's intelligence chief last week predicted Moscow would be able to launch an attack on NATO by 2030.
BND foreign intelligence chief Bruno Kahl told a parliamentary hearing: "We are in a direct confrontation with Russia," Agence France Press reported, and that Moscow's armed forces "are likely to be capable of carrying out an attack against NATO by the end of the decade at the latest."
The Baltic states have taken security measures in response to what they say is an increased threat by Moscow. Lithuania has installed anti-tank concrete pyramids known as "dragon teeth" by the frontier with Kaliningrad.
It joined fellow former Soviet republics Estonia and Latvia in announcing the Baltic Defense Line, while neighboring Poland announced a similar $2.6 billion "Eastern Shield" project to strengthen its borders with Kaliningrad and Belarus.
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