Vladimir Putin could be getting concerned about a tiny NATO nation on Russia’s border which is making open preparations for war. In a David versus Goliath-like scenario, the small Baltic country of Lithuania has begun ramping up military spending and exercises in response to the growing threat from Moscow.
Lithuania, which is home to just 2.8 million people and four times smaller than the UK, shares a border with Russia’s Kaliningrad Oblast, an enclave nestled between the Baltic nations and Poland. The territory is primarily used by the Kremlin as a naval base. A tiny spit of land connecting Poland and Lithuania, known as the Suwałki Gap, is all that separates the Russian oblast from Belarus, a key ally of Russia. Analysts fear Putin could attempt a land invasion across the gap to connect Kaliningrad with a Russian-friendly country, effectively annexing land from both Lithuania and Poland and potentially sparking World War III.
However, despite facing a much larger foe in the shape of Russia, Gabrielius Landsbergis, Lithuania’s former foreign minister, said his country would be ready to fight back. He pointed to his nation’s overall 420-mile-long border with Belarus needing more defences, but also noted that Germany had stationed forces now in Lithuania, making an invasion by Moscow much more dangerous for Putin.
He told The Sun: “The Russians will have to take into consideration that they would be attacking, not just Lithuanian troops, but German troops now.
“We are taking this really seriously and it shows to the enemy that we are taking the threat seriously. There is a push to think about defence lines on the border.
Mr Landsbergis said he would like to see more defences on the border, such as “mines, ditches” and “dragon teeth”, a pyramid-shaped type of anti-tank obstacles made from reinforced concrete.
Elsewhere, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continues with Putin now under a 50-day warning from the White House to seek a ceasefire or face tougher sanctions.
On Thursday Sir Keir Starmer and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky spoke about sanctions on Russian energy revenues.
Giving a read-out of their conversation, a Number 10 spokesperson said that the men “agreed international partners must continue to ramp up the pressure on Russia”.
Mr Zelensky said that they had a “very good and substantive conversation”.