Baltic states have high numbers of Russian speakers, who Putin has vowed to ‘protect’.
With Donald Trump leading in many of the polls for the upcoming US presidential election, his comments about global security and foreign policy have to be taken seriously.
Not only does Trump, sometimes, say he wants to halt all US military aid to Ukraine, but Trump wants to undercut article 5 of Nato’s treaty – the principle of collective defence – something that has become increasingly important in the wake of Russia’s aggression. British military sources are worried that Trump’s remarks will strengthen Putin’s resolve over Ukraine, and could result in him advancing on even more territory.
Building shared defences Amid growing security concerns, the defence ministers in Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia also agreed in January to set up a common Baltic defence zone on their borders with Russia and Belarus. This would consist of building physical defensive structures such as bunkers. Latvia also plans to double the size of its armed forces to 61,000 by the year 2032. Meanwhile, Lithuania has made an agreement with Germany to allow a permanent brigade of 4,800 of its troops to be combat ready on the Russian border by 2027.
But these claims about wanting to protect Russians abroad, are really just a pretext to justify escalation with the Baltics, which will test Nato’s alliance and destabilise the organisation. So it’s not just important that there are ethnic Russians living there – there are strategic reasons as well that make them an easy target.
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