Russian presence in the North Sea
Over the past years there have been sporadic and mostly symbolic deployments of Russian surface warships in the North Sea. These deployments project a limited amount of military power into a NATO controlled environment and thus pose a limited military threat to its alliance members. Instead, these deployments rather serve a symbolic purpose, as to remind NATO and the world that Russia has the capabilities to project power into the North Sea and into Europe. These deployments first serve to maintain a certain status quo and a balance against NATO deployments in the Baltic Sea where Russia seeks to maintain a position of strength. They also serve a certain propaganda purpose as these deployments are often noticed by and mentioned in Western news bulletins who usually give the appearance that NATO forces were captured by surprise and are thus vulnerable. For NATO however, these sporadic Russian deployments in the North Sea can serve as an opportunity to counter Russia's influence eith...