Lithuania urges coordinated response to Russian maritime border plans

Lithuania has urged a coordinated response to a Russian legislative project on the possible redefinition of its maritime borders in the Baltic Sea.

"We continue to work with our neighbours and partners at both EU and NATO level to ensure a unified response to the situation," Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė told the BNS news agency in Vilnius on Thursday.

In Russia, a draft from the Ministry of Defence was published earlier on Thursday in the government's legislative database. It announced an adjustment of the maritime borders in the Gulf of Finland and the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, which also borders Lithuania, which alarmed the neighbouring states.

The initiative later disappeared from the legislative database without any reason being given.

Šimonytė said that one or two changes could be made on the basis of certain agreements, but the Kremlin's plans remained unclear.

"I think the Russian authorities deliberately want this not to be clarified. They want it to remain vague and cause anxiety and fear," she said, adding that there was no cause for concern.

Lithuania had summoned the Russian envoy in response to the reports of the plans.