A "legal black hole"

Speaking at a Navy Day celebration in Kaliningrad Oblast on 28 July, Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said that "Russia's leadership will not allow Kaliningrad to be torn away from the rest of Russia". Ivanov also reiterated the Kremlin's concerns about the Baltic states, which have not signed the Treaty on Conventional Forces in Europe, joining NATO. He said that by doing so, they will create a "legal black hole" that "will not increase security in the Baltic region." Ivanov also said that the Baltic Fleet, which is based in the Kaliningrad Oblast city of Baltiisk, "has played and will continue to play a military-strategic role in the region." He said that the fleet "enables [Russia] to influence military-political events happening [in the region]."