RaMurmoka

US abandonment risk means NATO must be able to deter and, if needed, fight Russia without US support. With Washington’s commitment uncertain, defence integration must be built for the worst-case scenario, writes Peter Viggo Jakobsen. #LennartMeriConference icds.ee/en/sailing-thr…

🇱🇻🇪🇪🇱🇹 Russia accuses Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania of preparing hostile actions. Pure fantasy. This from a country that has invaded its neighbour, bombs civilians daily, deports children, and runs a huge disinformation machine. The same country that is responsible for recent incidents with drones in the Baltic, and then cries provocation. The absurdity would be laughable but this is jeopardizing security. Latvia has categorically denied these allegations as disinformation. Because that is exactly what they are. Belgium stands in full solidarity with Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania. A threat against one Member State is a threat against our entire Union and against NATO. @BelgiumMFA

Parlamentin puhemies @EP_President Metsola: ”Venäjän Latviaan, Viroon ja Liettuaan kohdistama pelottelu ja provokaatiot ovat mahdottomia hyväksyä ja lisäävät jännitteitä alueella. Seisomme Baltian maiden rinnalla. Yhdenkään jäsenvaltion ei pidä joutua Venäjän uhkaamaksi.”

Just spoke with President @edgarsrinkevics about recent events in Latvia 🇱🇻 including drone incidents. NATO is fully committed to the security of all Allies, and we will continue to ensure that we have all we need to defend every inch of Allied territory

There is no acceptance for Russia’s threats against our allies. You have no right to falsely accuse the Baltic States. It is clear who the aggressor is and who the victim is. We remain firmly committed to the principles of the UN Charter and the Atlantic Treaty.

Claims that the Baltic States allow Ukraine to use their airspace are utter nonsense - and Russia knows it. Moscow’s threats against the Baltic States are not a sign of strength, but of weakness. Russia is failing on the battlefield in Ukraine and is trying to intimidate us into reducing our support for Ukraine. The right response is to do the opposite: increase our support to Ukraine and boost Europe’s defences even further.

“Ambiguity is dangerous in this world.” Republican Congressman Don Bacon says that mixed signals from Washington could weaken deterrence against Russia and strain NATO alliances. rferl.org/a/don-bacon-na…

Russia’s public threats against our Baltic States are completely unacceptable. Let there be no doubt. A threat against one Member State is a threat against our entire Union. Russia and Belarus bear direct responsibility for drones endangering the lives and security of people on our Eastern flank. Europe will respond with unity and strength. We will continue reinforcing the security of our Eastern flank with strong collective defence and preparedness at every level.

Russia's SVR told the world that Ukrainian drone operators are stationed at Ādaži, Sēlija, Liepāja, Daugavpils, and Jēkabpils military bases. Threatened “just retribution” – as did Russia’s ambassador at the UN just now. This is a clumsy information operation designed for a very specific purpose. First, the facts. Latvia does not provide airspace for attacks on Russia. This has been stated clearly, repeatedly, officially. The accusations are pure fiction. Ukraine has a legitimate right to self-defence, but Kyiv executes it from its own sovereign soil. This SVR operation is not a warning. But it can be a pretext. Moscow always accuses others of exactly what it intends to do. By seeding this fiction through the UN Security Council and proxy Telegram channels, the Kremlin is preparing the information space. The goal is transparent. When Russian military intelligence inevitably attempts to sneak their own drones through Baltic skies or stage a border incident, they now have a pre-written script to blame Kyiv and accuse Riga of complicity. The Russian system relies on manufacturing phantom regional threats to mask its catastrophic reality on the frontline. They want us to flinch at the spectre of escalation. We will not. We should treat this exactly as it is: a staged argument for future provocations. Stay alert, document everything, and deny Moscow the ambiguity it depends on. We know the playbook, we expect the provocation, and we will defend our airspace without hesitation.

🇪🇺Amb. Lambrinidis on Russia’s threats against Latvia during Ukraine #UNSC debate: “Russia’s threatening a UNSC member and an EU member state in this Chamber reveals a desperate aggressor that has abandoned all pretence of reason, measure, modesty or dignity.”

Russia is deliberately redirecting Ukrainian drones into Baltic airspace while waging smear campaigns against #Lithuania, #Latvia, and #Estonia. It’s a transparent act of desperation — an attempt to sow chaos and distract from a simple reality: #Ukraine is hitting Russian military machine hard. My message to the Kremlin: nice try. Failed again. #NATO stands united. We are ready to defend every inch of Allied territory — in the air, on land, and at sea.

“We are seeing a rise in temperature in Russia’s rhetoric toward the #Baltic States,” the Lithuanian President’s National Security Advisor @DMatulionis says, warning that Russia is actively spreading lies that Baltic territory is being used for Ukraine’s actions against Russia

❗️Russia lies again❗️This time it is SVR or the External Intelligence Service running a disinformation campaign against Latvia. ✅FACT: Latvia does NOT provide airspace for attacks on Russia. That has been explained several times to Russian representatives.

Another “temporary extension” to allow Putin to profit from Trump’s war.

NEW!! Ukraine condemns nuclear weapons drills in Belarus, saying that deployment of tactical weapons in the country constituted an “unprecedented challenge” to global security. Ukraine's Foreign Ministry: “By turning Belarus into its nuclear staging ground near NATO borders, the Kremlin is de facto legitimizing the proliferation of nuclear weapons worldwide and setting a dangerous precedent for other authoritarian regimes”

Vilnius is one of Europe’s best-kept secrets. Baroque streets, hidden courtyards, old churches, and the kind of creative energy you don’t expect until you’re there.

Former European Central Bank President Mario Draghi delivered a stark warning to Europe in Aachen, Germany, today. "For the first time in living memory, we are truly alone together," he said. politico.eu/article/mario-…

When I look at NATO I see a Schrödinger's NATO: the US is inside and outside of NATO at the same time, And we won't know until we open the box. But by then, I think, it will be too late. —Jana Puglierin, Senior Policy Fellow and Head of @ecfr Berlin Office #LennartMeriConference

Every decision and announcement about Europe, Ukraine, NATO which comes from this Administration is something that the Kremlin would want and welcome.

Revealing remarks by Putin 🇷🇺 to youth from Armenia 🇦🇲. He started the war with 🇺🇦 to prevent its 🇪🇺 accession, and thus hints that the same could happen with 🇦🇲.