GERMANY - Germany has been trying to bring the navies of NATO and EU countries on the Baltic closer together since Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, starting with regular meetings of fleet commanders the following year. It is also building a new naval command center in Rostock designed to house a permanent staff of international officers. In times of crisis, this will be able to lead NATO or EU operations in the Baltic from 2023. Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen said last month that as the biggest NATO and EU country on the Baltic, Germany must “take more responsibility for the region” - a sign it is slowly shedding its post-World War Two reluctance to take the military lead. Other Western countries welcome the German initiative. “We are very happy that Germany has taken the lead in that sense,” Finnish navy chief Admiral Veijo Taipalus said.