West uses Baltic region as springboard to practice Russia’s containment — diplomat

MOSCOW, May 15. /TASS/. The Baltic region is used today by the West as a springboard for training mechanisms to escalate ongoing developments and contain Russia, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko said in an interview with Russia’s Izvestia daily. "This region used to be the most peaceful in terms of military activities," Grushko said. "There were no conflicts, neither frozen nor unfrozen. There were no prerequisites for increasing tensions at all." "The Baltic region is used today by the West as a laboratory [to study] how to escalate the situation and how to contain Russia from various regional and geographical directions," Grushko noted. "At the moment, they are attempting approaching the Arctic while various coalitions are being formed," he continued. "This is definitely an extremely worrying development. This development, this line, is completely inconsistent with the fundamental interests of the state and the peoples who are members of the Arctic union," Grushko noted. "I can't help but recall the slogan of the Norwegian presidency [of the Arctic Council] - ‘high latitudes - low tension.’ These words sound very beautiful, but in fact, the practical meaning pursued by our Western adversaries is to turn the Arctic into an arena of military confrontation," the Russian diplomat concluded.