Carlo Masala, an expert in military strategy, believes that a military success of Russia in Ukraine would increase the threat to the Baltic states.
According to Masala, who expressed his views to the German newspapers of the Funke Media Group, it is not to be ruled out that Russia, should it succeed in Ukraine and permanently occupy about 17 to 18 percent of the Ukrainian territory, might consider in the long term attacking one or even several Baltic states conventionally.
Masala explains, “The lesson Russia has drawn is that no country wants to take massive action against a nuclear-armed state. Moscow might ask itself whether NATO would be willing to risk potential nuclear escalation if Russia conventionally attacks a relatively small territory – even if it’s a NATO member state?” However, as reported by the German news website n-tv.de, Masala currently sees a Russian attack on Germany as rather unlikely.
Image: Kremlin.ru, Vladimir Putin (2022-09-05), CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (image size modified)
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