Baltic Sea: new maritime boundaries concluded in the Eastern Baltic Sea since 1998
ENThe Baltic Sea area has been characterised by a rather unusual development when considered from a maritime boundary delimitation point of view. During the late 1980s, this area was considered to be one of the most developed around the world since it was almost completely covered by maritime boundaries agreed upon between the respective parties at that time. Only the delimitation between Denmark and Poland, south of Bornholm island, remained outstanding, as well as a few tripoints which still had to be filled in. This situation, however, changed drastically in late 1991. After Gorbachev's televised speech on Christmas Eve 1991, in which he resigned as President of the USSR, the Supreme Soviet abolished itself the next day and officially declared that the Soviet Union no longer existed. As a result, a whole set of newly to be delimitated maritime boundaries surfaced overnight in areas where no such boundaries had ever existed in the past.
