Experts have issued a major warning after Russian troops were spotted near a major NATO border. Estonian officials temporarily closed a section of road passing through Russian territory near the border on October 10 after guards observed a small group of what appeared to be Vladimir Putin’s military personnel bearing no insignia in the area. A nearly kilometre-long section between Varska and Saatse, part of which runs through Russian territory, was shut for safety reasons, Meelis Saarepuu, the head of the South Prefecture of the Estonian Police and Border Guard Board, said on Saturday, after observing seven armed Russian servicemembers near their country’s section of the route.
The troops’ uniforms suggested that they were not Russian border guards, it is believed. Saarepuu also reported that Moscow’s border personnel told Estonian authorities that their activity in the area was routine. Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsakhna said Russian forces are operating “somewhat more assertively and visibly than before”, but added that reports that the border situation is becoming more tense are exaggerated, the Insititute for the Study of War (ISW) reported.
Estonia plans to stop using the road completely, is is thought, and use instead alternative routes that bypass Russian territory and are already available or currently being built.
It comes after Russian military aircraft violated Estonian airspace on September 7 and 19.
The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) reported on Sunday that it continues to assess that Russia has “recently intensified its covert and overt attacks” against Europe. It added that Moscow has entered “Phase Zero”, the informational and psychological condition setting phase, of its campaign to prepare for a possible future war with the west.
Experts wrote: “This event is the first instance of ISW observing ‘little green men’ (a euphemism the Kremlin uses for the Russian military forces in unmarked uniforms) operating near a NATO state in the context of the ‘Phase Zero’ campaign.”
US President Donald Trump issued a stark warning to Putin this morning, saying the US could send Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine if he does not ensure that the conflict ends soon.
Trump has spoken of his disappointment at not being able to stop the fighting in Eastern Europe, as he initially believed that it would be one of the first he could resolve during his second term in the Oval Office.
The President met Putin in Alaska for face-to-face talks in August.
However, the war between Moscow and Kyiv has continued.