Baltic

The alliance would also include Poland, the Baltic states, and Ukraine

Prime Minister of Lithuania, Ingrida imonytė, commented on the latest threat from Dmitry Medvedev, who said that the Baltics could no longer be talked about without nuclear weapons in the event that Sweden and Finland really join NATO, which is increasingly likely.

Polish Deputy Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski has accused Germany and France of being in close relations with Russia.

"For years, the German government has not wanted to notice what Russia is doing under Putin, and today we are seeing the result," he was quoted as saying in an interview with the German newspaper Welt.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - A Russian helicopter with two crew members crashed in the Baltic Sea, one body was found, a source in the emergency services told Sputnik on Friday.

"A helicopter crashed in the Kaliningrad region … in the Baltic Sea. Two crew members were on board," the source said.

German authorities have endorsed the construction of the new gas pipeline from Russia to the bottom of the Baltic Sea North Stream 2, Turkish Daily Sabah writes, quoted by Focus.

Serbia's defense minister blasted NATO's top general on Monday for saying that one of the biggest threats for Europe is increasing Russian influence in the Balkans, and the biggest problem are Serbs.

A four-metre long (12-foot) Russia-made torpedo was found on the Curonian Spit on the Baltic Sea coast, near the border with the Russian Federation.

The torpedo found, according to the estimates of the border guards, is a training torpedo. It is painted in green and red colors, has inscriptions in Russian.

The crisis in global shipping and a tax exodus by big Greek vessel owners have helped finally seal the fate of London's Baltic Exchange after at least three approaches to buy it over the last six years of its near-three centuries history.

Poland and Lithuania have signed the grant agreement on the first gas pipeline connecting the two countries, the European Commission announced on Thursday.

The project GIPL (Gas Interconnector Poland - Lithuania) will "end the long lasting isolation of the Baltic Sea region and bring the energy needed for a new economic dynamism to the region," the Commission said on its website.

US-led NATO drills began June 1 in the Baltic states and Poland, a move intended to reassure Russia's nervous neighbours amid tensions over Ukraine.