RIGA/VILNIUS - Nervously eyeing Russian naval maneuvers and military flights near their borders, the three ex-Soviet Baltic states fear they may emerge as the next geopolitical flashpoint after Ukraine in a confrontation that could test their cherished Western ties.
With President Barack Obama heading to Estonia on Wednesday on a visit designed to underline U.S. solidarity with the Balts ahead of a NATO summit in Wales, the three tiny republics are renewing calls for troops on the ground and military help.
In their comments on the Ukraine crisis, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are more hawkish than their Western partners. Anchored in NATO, unlike Ukraine, they have far less cause to fear a full-blown Russian military invasion, but they worry about cyber-attacks and other more stealthy forms of aggression.
"Practically Russia is in a state of war against Europe," Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite said on Saturday, urging Europe to supply Kiev with arms to defeat pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine.
Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves called the Ukraine crisis "an undeclared war".
The Baltic states, which only regained their independence from Moscow in 1991, are acutely aware of their vulnerability to Russian pressure, not least because of their heavy reliance on Russian energy and their sizeable ethnic Russian minorities - both salient factors also in the Ukraine crisis.
"The hardcore anti-Russians, mostly older generations, are generally afraid of tanks crossing the border like in the 1940s," said Catlyn Kirna, a lecturer in international relations at Tallinn University in Estonia, referring to Moscow's forcible annexation of the three countries during World War Two.
"More moderate people fear a loss of independence, falling under Russian influence, they are fearful of Russian money invading politics … and the Russian minority here also causes a lot of fear," she added.
JITTERS
Russia certainly seems to be testing the Balts' vigilance.
Source: Top Stories - Google News - http://ift.tt/1ubmyfv
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