PUTIN will not limit himself to Ukraine and has three goals to rebuild the Russian empire, warned the Latvian leader.
President Edgars Rinkevics said the seizure of the Baltic countries would be the second stage in the tyrant’s troubled dream of recovering a lost empire.
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At RUSI’s headquarters in Whitehall, Rinkevics made a worrying assessment of the unstable future of European security in the face of an increasingly aggressive Russia.
He said the full results of Russia’s 27-month war against Ukraine are likely to lead to more bloodshed, as the Kremlin is driven by “resentment for its lost empire.”
“If Russia feels it has won in Ukraine, the temptation will be to continue… if it feels it has been defeated, the desire will be for revenge,” Rinkevics said.
And the “first targets” of Putin’s mission to rebuild the Soviet empire will be to conquer Moldova and the Caucasus and Central Asian regions, he said.
This Hitler-style land grab could include countries such as Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, as well as Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan – all of which are sustained targets of Russian influence.
Europe’s security order will be under threat for “years, if not decades”, Rinkevics warned during his three-day visit to the UK this week.
Fresh from his meeting with the king, Rinkevics argued that his small nation was already fighting a “hybrid war” waged by the Kremlin.
Rinkevics said: “Is Latvia afraid of a Russian attack? We need to be prepared for all types of scenarios.”
He did not believe there was an “imminent threat” of a Russian invasion of Latvia “in the next few years” due to NATO’s security network.
However, his concern was the waves of hybrid attacks launched to destabilize his country.
Russia, he said, increasingly operates in this “gray zone.”
“Russia is testing our borders, carrying out sabotage attacks, our security services are working 24 hours a day, there have been many arrests… citizens are being recruited on social media… and deep fakes are to interfere in electoral campaigns.”
“How will NATO respond?” he asked.
But Rinkevics had no doubts when it came to Ukraine. His message was clear: “NATO is failing in its assistance”.
Is Latvia afraid of a Russian attack? We need to be prepared for all types of scenarios
President Rinkevics
The politician demanded that the alliance be clearer in its long-term commitment to Ukraine and despaired over delays in Western arms deliveries.
He rebuked vague phrases uttered by Western politicians, especially in the US, who promised to support Kiev “for as long as necessary” or “as much as necessary.”
Instead, he wanted unequivocal guarantees that the “necessary tactical decisions” could be made.
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Rinkevics was preparing to present his central argument that Western weapons “must be” supplied to Ukraine without any restrictions.
He said: “We should send more of everything to Ukraine and let them use it… they are ready to fight and fight very well when they have what they need.”
President Volodymyr Zelensky argued for months that a ban on attacks on military targets inside Russia was helping Putin win the war.
He says this left his troops unable to destroy key bases used to attack Ukrainian cities and powerless to stop Moscow’s new offensive in Kharkiv.
Putin’s Ukraine ceasefire plan
Russian tyrant Vladimir Putin is reportedly prepared to end the war in Ukraine – if Kiev agrees to give up all of its territory stolen by his bloodthirsty forces over the years
He is considering a so-called “ceasefire” agreement, sources close to his inner circle said, as an end to frontline fighting.
The warmongering president was reportedly frustrated by Western efforts to end the plot – and by Ukrainian leader Zelensky’s decision to scrap negotiations.
One of the sources close to the Kremlin said: “Putin can fight as long as necessary, but Putin is also ready for a ceasefire to freeze the war.”
The brutal fighting escalated as Russia opened a new front in Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv.
Brave Ukrainian troops are fighting to keep Vlad’s armies at bay – and Putin is causing soldiers to bleed in their battles of attrition.
But the terrible war, which has been going on for more than two years, shows little sign of ending soon.
Although the UK has hinted that Ukraine can do whatever it wants, the US has repeatedly stated that it will not allow its long-range missiles to be fired at Russia.
Rinkevics disagreed with arguments that allowing Kiev’s forces to attack Russian soil with Western weapons would increase tensions between NATO and Russia.
“Russia is always escalating,” he said, referring to Russia’s recent attempts to redraw its maritime borders with Latvia and Lithuania and to remove border markers in Estonian waters.
NEW DEFENSES
As Moscow escalates its growing threats against neighboring NATO countries, they respond with military escalation.
Latvia, along with Lithuania and Estonia, has a grand plan to build a network of hundreds of bunkers to reinforce NATO’s eastern flank.
The trio are also part of a recently signed plan to create a “wall of drones” stretching from Norway to Poland to protect Europe from the threat of Russia.
Thousands of surveillance and possibly armed drones are ready to patrol the tense border.
Developing the plan for The timesLatvian President Edgars Rinkevics said Europe has returned to the “darkest days of the Cold War”.
He revealed that unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) will monitor attempts by Russia and Belarus to use large numbers of migrants as “weapons” and other provocations.
Although he said the drones will primarily be used for reconnaissance, he did not rule out that armed drones could also be deployed.
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This story originally appeared on The-sun.com read the full story
