Panic in the Baltic

After the end of the Cold War, the Baltic was viewed almost as a quiet backwater. A nice place to visit to see charming Hanseatic cities and sandy beaches. But since the war in Ukraine the Baltic sea, bordered by eight European Union countries as well as Russia, has become a hot spot of world geopolitics. And tensions are high.

Type (Documentaire / Documentaire fiction / Série documentaire)Documentary Genre en anglaisGeopoliticalWritten and directed byFrédérique Compain - Benoît LabordeEditingFlorence BressonCinematographyNathanaël LouvetSoundNicolas Samarine, Pirkko TiitinenOriginal score Siegfried CantoNarrationDamien BoisseauIn association with RTS, Radio-Canada, Al Jazeera Media NetworkSupported by CNC, Procirep, Angoa-AgicoaBroadcasted by ARTE FranceDistributed by Artline Films, ARTE France Distribution Year2022Duration52

Panique en mer Baltique - Artline Films

On Feburary 24, the Russian Federation launched a “special military operation” in Ukraine. In Paris, London, and Berlin, the entry of the Russian army into Ukrainian territory marked the end of about thirty years of relative complacency. The “Putin method” stunned all European countries.

All of them? Not quite. Around the Baltic Sea, the events of 2022 confirmed long-held fears since the war in Georgia and the annexation of Crimea. The former Soviet republics of Eastern and Northern Europe had been trying for years to alert Western capitals. Poles, Balts, Finns, and, to a lesser extent, Scandinavians are now on the front line against Russia, all massively rearming. So much so that Sweden and Finland, traditionally “non-aligned,” have applied for NATO membership

Panique en mer Baltique - Artline Films

But why has there been such a resurgence of tensions so far from Kyiv and Mariupol? What old fault lines does the Ukrainian conflict reignite here in Northern Europe? Is this truly a sharp break or just a new stage in an already well-advanced process? Previously seen as a peaceful European lake, the Baltic Sea is now becoming the new theater of confrontation between Europe and Russia, drawing the attention of all the major global powers. This film seeks to understand and explain the resonance of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict in this “Northern Mediterranean” of Europe.

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