On 1 October, Germany launched a maritime task force in the city of Rostock on the Baltic Sea, where attacks on undersea cables and pipelines, not to mention Russia’s shadow fleet, pose an acute and growing threat. The German government is at pains to point out that this is not a NATO unit. That has to do with the Two Plus Four Treaty: Germany abides by its obligations even when countries like Russia don’t.

The inauguration of the Commander Task Force Baltic (CTF) was a grand event, attended by the Chief of the German navy and the prime minister of the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, as well as admirals, generals and other officers from NATO countries. The CTF, with a headquarters staffed by 180 sailors, marines and naval aviators from Germany, Poland, Sweden and ten other NATO member states, is designed to play a crucial role in responding to regional challenges, Germany’s defence minister, Boris Pistorius, said at the inauguration. That includes ‘the protection of NATO member states’ interests against aggressive actions, particularly given the proximity of Russia’.

In the past couple of years, the Baltic has seen the sabotage of Nord Stream 1 and 2, and malign actions against another pipeline and two undersea cables. On a daily basis, a procession of shadow tankers sail from Russia’s Baltic Sea ports through the Exclusive Economic Zones of Germany and other NATO member states on to the North Sea. Denmark, through whose Great Belt and other narrow straits the shadow tankers pass, is particularly vulnerable to the oil spills, collisions and other incidents the tankers are likely to cause. In reality, all Baltic Sea states are at risk, because collisions will happen and oil spills will harm the already suffering mini-ocean. (The Baltic Sea is rather an arm of the Atlantic.) Unless those who sabotage pipelines and undersea cables are thwarted or punished, the sabotage will continue.

The CTF ‘will be responsible for planning joint exercises and is ready to direct naval operations in times of peace, crises and war,’ Pistorius said in his speech, noting that the Baltic is ‘a vital corridor for trade, military mobility and energy security’ and ‘a frontline in our collective defence against evolving threats’.

Pistorius added: ‘But this is not NATO’s headquarters, and no NATO troops are being deployed.’ Having delivered his speech in English, he then added in German: ‘Since there are those who say that this is a violation of the Two Plus Four Treaty and that NATO is standing up a headquarters here: ladies and gentlemen, that’s not the case. Unlike certain others on this continent, we respect international law. This is not a NATO headquarters, and no NATO soldiers will be deployed here.’ German news reports of the inauguration reiterated this point: the CTF is a multi-national headquarters, not a NATO one. Large parts of the international media, meanwhile, have been less precise in their reporting, referring to the CTF as a NATO installation.

It may seem like an odd distinction: the 13 countries involved all belong to NATO, and the CTF’s task is very much to defend NATO waters. But the distinction matters. In the Two Plus Four Treaty, signed by West Germany, East Germany, the United States, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom and France on 12 September 1990, the signatories settled the foreign and security policy aspects of the soon-to-be reunited Germany. Joined by East Germany, West Germany would remain a member of NATO, the treaty stipulated. Soviet troops would be permitted to remain on the territory of the former East Germany until the end of 1994; until then, only German forces not serving in a NATO capacity would be permitted to serve on formerly East German territory. After the Soviets’ withdrawal, Germany – under the rules of the Two Plus Four Treaty – had more freedom in deciding what troops could serve in the former East Germany. But the Treaty also stipulated that ‘foreign armed forces and nuclear weapons or their carriers shall not be stationed in or transferred to this part of Germany’.

Germany could have argued that, since Russia has violated all manner of international agreements, Germany is at liberty to do so, too. Instead, Pistorius and his government have complied with the letter of the Two Plus Four Treaty, though perhaps not exactly in its spirit.

Doing so may seem pedantic, even submissive. But adherence to the rule of law, both of the domestic and the international kind, is what distinguishes liberal democracies from most autocracies. If countries dismiss inconvenient rules and obligations simply because certain other countries are already doing so, a race to the bottom begins.