A NATO lake

One of the excuses used by Putin when Russia invaded Ukraine was the fear that NATO would expand to the Russian borders.

However, the aggression against Kyiv instead pushed Sweden and Finland to join the Atlantic Alliance. One of the effects of this accession was seen this morning when a US Navy Boeing P-8A departed from Tampere Airport in Finland to conduct a low-altitude mission (around 7,000 feet) over the Baltic Sea.

The Baltic can now truly be considered a NATO lake, and the access routes to St. Petersburg, home to the Russian fleet’s naval base, would be significantly compromised in the event of a conflict.