NATO is seriously weighing the deployment of additional troops to the Baltic region in response to potential Russian provocations, a senior Lithuanian presidential adviser said Tuesday, after Vilnius and Riga warned last week of intelligence pointing to planned sabotage of critical infrastructure.
Lithuanian Defence Minister Robertas Kaunas argued that Russia's failure to achieve its objectives in Ukraine is driving President Vladimir Putin to seek an alternative escalation targeting the Baltics and Poland. Latvian President Edgars Rinkēvičs cautioned that Moscow may intensify provocations to test NATO cohesion, while Latvia's VDD security service has identified multiple Russian intelligence-organised sabotage operations on Latvian territory since the war began.
Lithuania, which now allocates 5.33 percent of GDP to defence, has reinforced protection of critical infrastructure, with the Interior Ministry requesting additional support from the defence establishment.