Russia wants to unilaterally change maritime border with Lithuania, Finland in Baltic Sea

Sub: IR

Sec: Places in news

Context:

Russia has unilaterally moved to change the maritime border with Lithuania and Finland in the Baltic Sea, according to a decree from May 21 published on the Russian government’s website.

Details:

The change has not been internationally recognized.
Lithuania and Finland have not yet reacted to Russia’s decision.
Russia plans to appropriate inland sea waters in the eastern Gulf of Finland and near Baltiysk and Zelenogradsk in Kaliningrad Oblast.
The decree alters geographic coordinates to redefine Russian territorial sea areas.
Changes affect coordinates near several islands and the Narva River’s north cape on the Finnish border.
Adjustments also include areas near the Curonian and Vistula spits and Taran Cape on the Lithuanian border.
Russia claims previous coordinates, set by a 1985 USSR decree, were based on outdated, small-scale marine maps from the 20th century.

Bordering countries of Russia:

Russia shares land borders with fourteen countries: Poland and Lithuania (both via Kaliningrad Oblast), Norway, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, China, Mongolia, and North Korea
- Oblast (province) is administrative territory of Russia.
- The port city of Baltiysk is Russia’s only port on the Baltic Sea that remains ice-free in winter.
Narva river:
- The Narva flows 77 kilometres north into the Baltic Sea and is the largest Estonian river by discharge.
- The river draws its water from Lake Peipsi, runs along the border of the Republic of Estonia and the Russian Federation, and falls into Narva Bay, Gulf of Finland.
- The river gives its name to the archaeological (Neolithic) Narva culture, as well as the city of Narva.

Lithuania:

A country in the Baltic region of Europe.
It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea.
It borders Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, Poland to the south, and Russia to the southwest, with a maritime border with Sweden to the west.

Finland:

A Nordic country in Northern Europe.
It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, opposite Estonia.

Source: TKI