According to the European Commission, the Baltic states have been facing relentless hybrid attacks since March.
The Ukrainian attacks against Russian territory in the Saint Petersburg Oblast, near Finland and the three Baltic states, have revived European concerns about a possible extension of the conflict.
The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, is traveling this Tuesday to Vilnius where she is to meet the president of Lithuania as well as those of Estonia and Latvia to reaffirm the EU’s support for its member states closest to Russia.
The trip by Ursula von der Leyen is primarily intended to demonstrate the EU’s support for strengthening the defense capabilities of the Baltic states. “Russia and Belarus bear direct responsibility for the drones that threaten the lives and security of populations on our eastern flank,” she said.
The Ukrainian drones that were misplaced or jammed by Russia have caused significant disruptions in both Finland and the Baltic countries, with air alerts forcing, for example, the residents of Vilnius to run to shelters last week and causing the fall of the Latvian government the previous week.
The three Baltic states are the only former Soviet members among the 27 EU countries and are, as such, considered by the Kremlin as irredentist lands, territories that should be reunited with Russia.
That, at least, is the European Union’s fear: for the EU, the three Baltic states could be the easy target of a potential Kremlin attempt to militarily destabilize the 27.
