Latvian President comments on Ukraine's intelligence report that Russia might be preparing to attack Baltic States

Latvian President Edgars Rinkēvičs has commented on the head of Ukraine’s Foreign Intelligence Service Oleksandr Lytvynenko’s report that Russia might be preparing for a future attack on the Baltic States.

Source: Edgars Rinkēvičs in an interview with Suspilne, Ukraine's public broadcaster, as reported by European Pravda

Details: Rinkēvičs said that he was certain that given the Russian propaganda claims and the words of some Russian officials, Russia is dreaming about restoring the Russian Empire not only with an eye to controlling the Baltic States, Moldova, or Kazakhstan, but also when it comes to Finland.

"They are not talking about the Soviet Union because they are dreaming about the 19th-century Russian Empire," Rinkēvičs said.

He noted that NATO countries committed to growing NATO forces during the latest NATO summits in Madrid and Vilnius and stressed that the Allies were not taking threats lightly.

"At this point, we see that this will really become Russia’s strategic goal if it comes to believe it has won in Ukraine. Not necessarily if they win in Ukraine, but if they believe they have won. Then they might be tempted to test NATO’s strength. But that’s why we’re doing everything we can to prepare [for this]," Rinkēvičs said.

He also said that NATO countries have learnt a lot from Ukraine’s experience and that Latvia has time to grow NATO’s presence there and to improve its defence capabilities.

Background:

• Daiga Mieriņa, Speaker of the Latvian Saeima (Latvian Parliament), called Russian aggression a global threat and said that the response to it should also be global.
• Latvian President Edgars Rinkēvičs said that Russia was planning a long war in Ukraine, and that "it is important to actually fight for international peace, and peace in Europe, because if we stop Russia in Ukraine, then Russia is not going to be able to challenge other countries."
• In a comment on Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis' warning about the possibility of a Russian attack on Lithuania, Commander-in-Chief of the Lithuanian Armed Forces Valdemaras Rupšys said that there is no direct military threat to the country at present.

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