A Ukrainian general is currently calling for consistency: he fears Russian aggressive expansion. NATO’s efforts come too late.

KIEV – “We must help Ukraine defend itself against Russian tanks and heavy artillery,” said politician Vytautas Landsbergis, and Europe must not surrender to Putin. Online time. It was 2015, and reality proved the former Lithuanian head of state right – at the time, Vladimir Putin had just annexed Crimea in violation of international law. The Baltics still fear the expansionist orientation of the Russian dictator. “We feel that war is close to us,” the newspaper quoted the quote. ZDF Gabrielus Landsbergis. Now the Lithuanian Foreign Minister’s fears have been reinforced by Ukrainian Major General Vadim Skibitsky, who expects Putin to be able to invade the Baltic states within seven days.

Newsweek Reports on an interview with Skibitsky EconomistAccording to the magazine, the deputy head of Ukrainian military intelligence demanded that the West take decisive action against Russia: “The Russians will seize the Baltic region in seven days,” he said out loud. Newsweek. „NATO’s response period is ten days.” Skibitsky uses May 9th as an opportunity to warn of Russia’s ambitions – May 9th is celebrated in Russia as the Soviet Union’s „Victory Day” over Nazi Germany, as is May 9th. Deutschlandfunk They are published, but with their own historical interpretation: the state constructs heroic stories rather than remembering suffering, say Thelko Grace and Florian Kellermann. According to Ukrainian intelligence officer Skibitsky, the fighting will escalate into a Russian attack in the near future.

The fateful day: May 9th may prompt Russia to launch more attacks

Russia is expected to follow through on the “liberation” plan, he said Economist He said that all of Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions would be pushed forward and that his further measures would depend on this. “The speed and success of the advance will determine when and where the Russians strike next,” Skibitsky said. According to estimation, it could be May 9 Deutschlandfunks In fact, activate Russia’s actions – Russia, according to its own thinking, is on the defensive; The Russian people will also be made aware of this through various channels, from posters to social networks: “This time Nazism has taken root in Kiev and is receiving active assistance from Warsaw, Berlin and Washington. Russia is now, as it was then,” Gries and Kellerman say. „You fight as a champion of good against evil, which is inevitable for the Russians.”

“The Baltic side of the border is likely to become one of the most heavily fortified peacetime borders in the world.”

According to them, the war in Ukraine, in Russian thought, is a continuation of the “Great Patriotic War,” as World War II is called in Russia. The Baltics could actually become the second chapter after Ukraine. “The era of Putin’s wars has begun,” Lithuanian newspaper Landsbergis wrote in 2015. Online time. In any case, the Baltic states are preparing to defend their independence. On March 11, 1990, Lithuania declared its independence from the Soviet Union, followed by Estonia and then Latvia on August 20 and 21, 1991.

At the beginning of World War II, Hitler and Stalin partitioned Eastern Europe between them through a non-aggression pact in order to assert their influence in the countries involved. Federal Agency for Civic Education He writes: The Soviet Union therefore occupied the Baltic region, established its own regime and declared “the accession of states as Soviet Socialist Republics to the USSR, while the Baltic states classify this to this day as occupation and annexation in violation of international law.” Law.”

Fateful months: “They always knew that April and May would be a difficult time for us”

In any case, the Ukrainian soldier Skibitsky sees a rosy future for his country, as he put it Economist I explained to him: “Our problem is very simple: we have no weapons. “They always knew that April and May would be a difficult time for us,” says the intelligence officer, facing his boss, Volodymyr Zelensky, who has halted peace negotiations with Russia. Skibitsky speaks out against this Economist For negotiations. It may become unavoidable at some point. On the other hand, the Baltics seem to be intensifying the course of confrontation.

It has been clear since mid-January that the three Baltic states, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, are working to create a common defense line – a series of bunkers along the line of contact between the Baltics and Russia. Lukasz Milewski sees this defensive belt as “a completely logical answer to the special geostrategic challenges” that the Baltic states face vis-à-vis Russia. Foreign Policy Research Institute From Philadelphia. On the other hand, the world expresses doubts that this fortification on the borders of three NATO partners could reinforce the Russians’ claustrophobia towards NATO and encourage them to engage in a strategic, tactical or operational confrontation. Or more simply: Vladimir Putin may feel more challenged by this.

A Community of Destiny: Baltic and Russian Minorities

After all, border problems are a cause of air disturbances between the Baltic states and their neighbors; Russia reacts with equal annoyance to the Baltic alliance with NATO as well as to the situation of Russian minorities in the Baltic region, which ultimately inflames the dispute over the autonomy of the Baltic states again and again: it is clear that both sides equally view The foreign policy of the other side. As a threat to their respective independence is true. the Federal Agency for Civic Education Ethnic Russians make up 25.6% of the population of Latvia, 24.9% in Estonia, and 4.8% in Lithuania – a potentially attractive reason for Vladimir Putin to take similar action in the Baltics as he did with the annexation of Crimea in 2014.

“The ultimate hope is that the increased preparedness of the Baltic states and the broader coalition to fight Russia, which includes building the Baltic defense line, will be enough to persuade the Kremlin to act,” Milevsky wrote. The world in Eastern Europe is currently in limbo.

An ominous year: the first anti-Russian bunkers are scheduled to be built in 2025

The first of 600 shelters is scheduled to be built in 2025, the magazine wrote Break the defense; In addition, warehouses are being created to store materials needed for anti-tank barriers. the ZDF He talks about „Iron Curtain 2.0”. Milewski says the opposite ZDF: “The Baltic side of the border is likely to become one of the most heavily fortified peacetime borders in the world.” In general, the Baltic states expect Russian forces to march on their territory within a maximum of five years, or more likely within three years. This is what Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas said times express to. But at the same time, it is doubtful that Russia will allow these measures to go ahead without reaction.