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RUSSIA

Russian warship violates Danish waters

A Russian corvette twice violated Denmark's territorial waters in the Baltic Sea on Friday, the Danish armed forces said.

Published: 18 June 2022 10:44 CEST
Illustration photo of a Russian Navy corvette Boikiy.
Illustration photo of a Russian Navy corvette Boikiy seen here in the forefront of the photo in the Baltic Sea. Photo: REUTERS/Vitaly Nevar/Ritzau
The Russian vessel first crossed into the Danish waters north of the island of Christianso, south of Sweden, at 1230 am GMT.
 
“A few hours later, the same corvette crossed into Danish waters again, also north of Christianso,” the Danish military said in a statement.
 
“Following a call on civilian VHF radio from the Navy’s maritime operations unit, the Russian ship immediately left Danish territorial waters,” it added. The military said it had “nothing further to add”.
 
Denmark’s foreign ministry later said it had been in talks with the Russian ambassador, and noted that the incursion occurred after a Russian military spy plane violated its airspace in late March.
 
“Russia is again ignoring the international rule book by not respecting borders. It has been communicated in very clear terms to the Russian ambassador that this kind of action is completely unacceptable,” foreign
minister Jeppe Kofod said in a separate statement.

 
“A deeply irresponsible, gross and completely unacceptable Russian provocation in the middle of #fmdk,” Kofod added on Twitter, referring to the democracy festival, Folkemødet.
 
 
Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, as well as several members of her cabinet and opposition leaders are currently attending the four-day festival discussing climate, defence policy and other matters.
 
Denmark is a member of NATO and has sent both anti-tank launchers and an anti-ship missile system to Ukraine since Russia’s invasion in February.
 
Christianso is located some 300 kilometres (190 miles) from the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad.
 

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MILITARY

US troops to mount exercise on Danish Baltic island

US troops are planning to take part in a military exercise on the island of Bornholm next month, marking the third time in three years US soldiers have trained on Danish soil.

Published: 27 April 2024 10:38 CEST
US troops to mount exercise on Danish Baltic island

Denmark’s defence minister, Troels Lund Poulsen, revealed the planned exercise, which will take plance between May 1st and May 7th in a briefing to the Danish parliament’s defence committee.

As part of the exercise, US troops will ship an unnamed weapons system to Bornholm Airport, and then set it up in a military exercise area, but would not then fire any shots or missiles. 

“The exercise has a military training aspect, but also sends a signal about the solidarity of the alliance, about American commitment to security in Europe and in our own immediate area,” Lund Poulsen said in the briefing.

US troops took part in similar exercises in 2022 and 2023 on the strategically placed island, which lies 360km away from the Russian and controls access to the western Baltic. 

The US had requested permission to train on Bornholm, which the Danish government then accepted. There is no change in Danish armed forces’ assessment of the threat against Bornholm or Denmark, Lund Poulsen stressed. 

In December, Denmark entered into an agreement with the US, which permits US soldiers and equipment to be kept permanently on Danish soil, with hte US granted access to the Karup, Skrydstrup and Aalborg air bases.

When US troops held a similar exercise on the island in 2022, with a large missile system deployed to the island, the Russian ambassador to Denmark sent an official warning. 

“This can be seen as taking a step towards changing Bornholm from an island of peace to a potential military bridgehead,” Russia’s ambassador to Denmark, Vladimir Barbin, told the Danish broadcaster TV2.

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