Heightened Russian military activity observed in Baltic Sea

WARSAW, Poland, Dec. 11 (UPI) -- Several Baltic nations reported an increase in Russian military air and naval activity in and around the Baltic Sea this week.

Polish Defense MinisterThomas Siemoniak, interviewed on the Polish television news channel TVN24, suggested Russia was "not preparing to attack," but the "unprecedented" level of action "does not serve to build good relationships and trust." He speculated Russia was testing NATO defense capabilities.

The Baltic Sea is bordered by seven NATO countries, as well as Russia and Finland. The Finnish Air Force, earlier this week, announced it also oberved an increase in Russian activity in the Baltic Sea and the nearby Sea of Finland in the form of a major military exercise by Russia.

"It presents no immediate threat, but Russia with its actions is demonstrating that it has the power and capacity to act, if it chooses to," Finnish Defense Secretary Carl Haglund said. The Russian maneuvers prompted the Finnish Air Force to step up its air-policing operations by putting fighter planes on stand-by at air bases, and NATO to strengthen monitoring of airspace over Scandinavia and the Baltic countries, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.

A wide assortment of Russian military planes has been detected, NATO reported; although none have violated another nation's airspace, the Norwegian military said one of its plane had a near-miss with a Russian fighter plane in air space north of Norway.