Baltic countries build a "defense line" against the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, but may not have time - the media
However, a 10-year-old defense promotion can be implemented too late, according to officials in the region, who fear that a peace agreement in Ukraine can quickly attract Moscow's attention to the most vulnerable part of the Eastern Flang. "Putin will not allow us to wait for these 10 years. The most dangerous time for the Baltic States will come immediately after the ceasefire in Ukraine," Gabrielus Landsbergis warned, who held the post of Lithuanian Foreign Minister until November.
His comments followed the similar warnings of the Baltic countries that ceasefire may have unpredictable consequences. The Kremlin has already outlined plans to increase military production and redeploy troops to the northeast NATO border if Donald Trump is a mediator in the Armistice. In order to strengthen the defense, the Baltic States, as well as Poland and Finland, have recently announced the withdrawal from an international treaty prohibiting anti -personnel mines.
Lithuania also recently left the cassette bomb. Regional leaders say they want the freedom of choice in the use of new weapons systems because of Russian threat. According to the Lithuanian Defense Minister, the "strategic message" is that the Baltic countries are ready to use absolutely everything to protect against Russian invasion.
The recent report of Danish intelligence states that the war in Ukraine will stop or froze, Russia will be able to quickly re-arry, regroup and start a war with NATO. Six months later, Moscow will "wage a local war in a country bordering on Russia. " Two years later, it "will be ready for a regional war against several countries in the Baltic Sea. " Five years later, she will be able to wage a "large -scale war" in Europe (without US participation).
NATO, disturbed by catastrophic destruction in Ukraine and atrocities committed by Russian soldiers on civilians of occupied cities, signed a plan for the protection of "every inch" of the Baltic with lines of reinforcement from Finland, Poland and Germany in 2023. Currently, the Alliance places multinational forces in the battalion on a rotary basis in each Baltic State to act as a "stretching" of a defense strategy to contain Russia.
Latvia is protected by international forces under the leadership of Canada, Lithuania is protected by the German brigade, and Estonia is protected by about 1000 British soldiers. "We lack strategic depth. Russians can go through the country in hours, if not in the days, so we protect from the first inch. Look at Ukraine and their recruited cities, what they wandered was wasteland," Landsbergis said.
Simply put, the purpose of a new line of defense is to prevent the cities and towns of the Baltic with the same fate that Ukrainian cities are destroyed. Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania will spend £ 60 million on it, which will be a huge part of their defense budgets, which, in relation to GDP, are the largest in Europe after Poland.
Landsbergis reported that the message received from NATO was: "And how much do you do for yourself for help? When will you start digging trenches and change your border?" "We're there now. We are sending a message. I hope we use every minute that Ukrainians give us to prepare," he said, saying that it is "race over time.