Danish frigate fixes launcher, ensuring safety in Great Belt strait

The Danish armed forces reported on Thursday evening that the missile launcher on the frigate Niels Juel in the port of Korsor on the west of Zealand island no longer poses a risk of accidental launch. The Great Belt strait has been reopened to navigation and air traffic.

The military fixed the missile launcher, and the Great Belt strait is open again. Earlier in the afternoon, the Danish military stated the preventive closure of part of the water area in the Great Belt until the technical crew arrives on site.

As reported, experts conducted numerous tests of the launcher and assured that the threat had passed.

There was a risk that a missile, 4.5 metres long and weighing nearly 800 kilograms, could be launched involuntarily and fall at a distance of 5-7 kilometres southwest. The northbound road and rail bridge were outside the danger zone.

The frigate Niels Juel will remain in the naval port in Korsor until Friday when the Danish navy's exercises in the strait region will continue.

The accession of Finland and Sweden to NATO has made the Baltic Sea an inland sea of NATO. Although the Western coalition already had strategic control over this basin, the current balance of power gives it a serious advantage. The Danish Straits provide this advantage.

About 60 percent of Russia's total oil exports by sea are transported through the Baltic Sea. To reach the ocean, Russian tankers must pass through one of the four Baltic straits: Oresund, Great Belt, Fehmarn Belt, or Little Belt.

So, the European Commission was born to assign Denmark the controller role. Then, for Russia, the Danish Straits would become what the Strait of Hormuz is for the global oil trade, through which 20 per cent of the world's oil flows.

What would Denmark control? Insurances and certifications. In December, the EU launched an embargo on Russian raw materials transported by sea. Brussels also targeted ship insurance.