Vladimir Putin has his sights set on three European countries to the “northwest” of Ukraine and could attack them after this war is over, a military expert has claimed.
Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, but Putin had already displayed aggression toward other European nations in recent years.
Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania in the Baltics are all NATO members, but this won’t stop Putin from targeting the Baltic countries according to General Sir Richard Shirreff.
Writing for the Daily Mail, he said: “Once Putin has dominance over the ruins of Ukraine, he will look north-west, to the Baltic. With his Syrian ports gone, it is a matter of urgency for Russia’s navy to secure a base that is not ice-bound throughout winter, as is the Arctic port of Murmansk.”
If Putin were to do this, it could spark a direct war between NATO and Russia.
Article 5 of the NATO treaty obligates all member states to come to the defence of an ally if they come under attack.
This would drag most of Europe, the US, and Canada into a war with Russia.
There have been a series of escalations between Baltic nations and Russia in recent months.
Lithuania recently announced it had blocked and fortified a bridge linking it to the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad.
They also covered the bridge with ‘dragon’s teeth’ to prevent any vehicles from crossing.
This came after the announcement of a new train line between Kaliningrad and Moscow. Carriages had graffiti that displayed the Russian military ‘Z’ symbol.
Another message said Lithuania’s capital Vilnius is a “Russian city.”
Dr Stephen Hall, lecturer in Russian and post-Soviet politics at the University of Bath, told the Kyiv Independent: “It’s understandable that the Lithuanian government is worried about this.
“The Baltics have a long history of being occupied by other foreign forces, particularly Russia, and a relatively short history of being independent.”
Dr Hall added that while he “doesn’t expect to see Russian tanks in Riga or Tallinn, or Vilnius anytime soon”, Lithuania and the other Baltic States are right to be concerned.
