France's "magic eye" tracks warships in Russia - NATO hotspots

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 France sent planes to the Baltic Sea - a strategic hotspot between Russia and NATO - to monitor the "movements" of Russian ships and warships in this area.

The dots on the screen of the Atlantique 2 may seem confusing to the uninitiated, but to the crew of the French naval reconnaissance plane, it was not a confusing image.


"Another Tarantul. It's quite crowded down there," the operator announced when he spotted a Russian Tarantul-class corvette moving along with other ships across the Baltic Sea.


The French Atlantique 2 aircraft, which have been in service since the 1980s to detect surface ships and submarines, have been deployed to track Russian ships in the Baltic Sea. The mission became very important after Russia launched its military operation in Ukraine nearly four months ago.


The patrol plane took off from Brittany, western France, early in the morning and stopped in Germany before heading north to scout the Baltic Sea, now a strategic flashpoint between Russia and NATO.


When the plane passed over Ruegen Island - the area where the "Northern Stream 2" gas pipeline project was located, the crew had to concentrate. They began to deploy radar protruding from the protective layer of the fuselage.  


"We had to quickly determine which ships were friendly, neutral or suspicious so our force could figure out the best way to navigate," said one crew member.


French forces were ordered not to fly too close to certain coastal areas, as well as to Russian ships, to avoid escalating the situation, or entering potentially dangerous areas where the Baltic states could have potential threats. military operations.


According to AFP, the Baltic Sea has a concentration of many types of ships, from warships of countries, commercial ships and even yachts. The French aircraft had to analyze the elements they observed to determine what type of ship below was.


According to observers, the event that Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine on February 24 has caused many rapid changes in geopolitics in the Baltic Sea. Sweden and Finland have applied to join NATO, and if the move is successful, Russia risks further isolation in the Baltic.


The Baltic is the area Russia needs to have access to the world's oceans. According to expert Robert Dalsjo at the Swedish Defense Research Agency FOI, if the scenario of the two Nordic countries joining NATO, "the Baltic Sea will become NATO's lake".


In the Baltic, Moscow also has the Kaliningrad region, which is separate from mainland Russia. Kaliningrad is a territory of great importance because it is likened to Russia's "unsinkable aircraft carrier" in the heart of NATO. As a military base, this area has strategic significance and is an important area for Russia in the formation of its anti-access, anti-access (A2AD) zone in the Baltic Sea region.


In addition, if tensions between Russia and NATO escalate, Russian troops and equipment will be heavily present in the heart of the military alliance and ready to go to war. Therefore, Kaliningrad also has the ability to deter NATO. 


The Baltic region has recently continued to be in the spotlight when Lithuania, a NATO member, has banned the movement of goods embargoed by the European Union (EU) on its territory, including items such as coal, metals, construction materials, high-tech products ... This means that Russia will not be able to transport the goods on the embargo list by rail from this country through Lithuania to the Kaliningrad region.


The Kremlin called Lithuania's decision to ban cargo shipments to Russia's Kaliningrad region "unprecedented" and warned Moscow would respond.


French aircraft are also on a mission to fly near Kaliningrad to monitor Russian movements there. In one working day, the Atlantique 2 flew a total of 7,000km.

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