Russia summons German ambassador regarding Baltic Sea base

Russia’s foreign ministry has summoned Germany’s ambassador to protest over a new naval command center for NATO on the Baltic Sea.

Berlin has denied Moscow’s claim that the center housing military personnel from Germany and its NATO allies violates the treaty that allowed Germany’s 1990 reunification.

Germany inaugurated the center in Rostock, the port city of formerly communist East Germany, to boost defense readiness in the Baltic Sea region as Russia pursues its Ukraine offensive.

The Russian foreign ministry expressed a “decisive protest” to the ambassador over the creation of the center, warning that the expansion of NATO military infrastructure in former East Germany would have the most negative consequences.

The center will be led by a German admiral and manned by staff from 11 other NATO countries. It will aim to coordinate naval activities in the region and provide NATO with a “maritime situation picture in the Baltic Sea region around the clock.” A German foreign ministry spokesman said that its ambassador had “very clearly denied that the 2+4 Treaty had been violated.”