Former Commander of the Navy, Vladimir Beja, invited to the show "opposing” in News24, has spoken in very worrying tones regarding recent developments and discussions regarding the maritime border issue between Albania and Greece.

Referring to statements by senior Athens officials, Beja emphasized that the Greek side is exploiting the space and lack of legal moves by the Albanian side to expand its territory to the detriment of our maritime space in the Ionian Sea.

"The Greek Minister of Defense, Dendias, has openly said in Greece that he has increased his country's sea. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Mitsotakis has declared in the Greek parliament that they have expanded Greece's sea by 10%. This means that Greece claims to take sea from its neighbors, and specifically from Albania in the Ionian Sea. It can't take anything with Italy, so it claims to take it from us," said the former Fleet commander.

According to him, international conventions clearly state that a state cannot unilaterally expand where there is no physical space to expand without affecting its neighbors. In such cases, border states must act legally to protect their national interests.

Beja shed light on a major question mark regarding Albanian diplomacy and the legal steps that needed to be taken in the international arena to block the claims of official Athens.

"International conventions say that you cannot expand where there is no room to expand. Border states, in such cases, make a legal reservation and present it to the UN. Dendias reminds us Albanians today that it has been five years since they increased the sea to 12 miles. This is because, apparently, the Albanian side has not made the necessary legal reservation at the UN to protect our maritime borders," declared Vladimir Beja during the "Oponencje" studio.