NATO Versus Russia Military Posture in Baltics

With the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania regained their independence for the first time since 1945. Less than 14 years later all three nations were formally admitted into the NATO alliance and the European Union in 2004. To Russia, the expansion of NATO and the EU to their western border is viewed as nothing less than a direct threat. Russia does not trust the West and holds nothing but contempt for the independence of the Baltic states. Over the past 12 years we have seen a resurgent Russia act out to prevent further Western expansion towards its borders when they invaded Georgia in 2008 and annexed Crimea and initiated a separatist conflict in eastern Ukraine in 2014. Moscow has shown it is prepared to use military force as an instrument of policy and the Baltic nations might be in their crosshairs next. Although there are many facets to the threat that Russia poses with information operations, cyber-attacks, and hybrid warfare, a traditional invasion is by far the worst-case scenario