Ex-Soviet countries, fearing spillover from the Ukraine crisis, have asked NATO for land forces and other backup, potentially moving the region one step closer to a new Cold War. The nail-biting drama has already led the Western military alliance to step up defence measures in Eastern and Central Europe, but the region’s leaders are seeking more.
The calls from Baltic States Estonia, latvia and lithuania — which all border Russia and have sizeable ethnic Russian populations — and Ukraine’s neighbours Poland and Romania come as the United States accuses Russia of wanting to “create chaos” to have a pretext for more military intervention.
“We hope NATO’s increased presence in the Baltic region is not just temporary and limited to reinforced air patrols,” Estonian Defence Minister Sven Mikser said on State radio this week. Mikser, who is to meet with NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen in Brussels on Monday, added that talks are on “about having NATO rotating land units in our region”.
His lithuanian counterpart Juozas Olekas said he was also in talks with the alliance on beefed-up security, with some decisions already made and others to be taken next week. NATO has already enhanced air policing over the Baltic states, deployed AWACS reconnaissance planes over Poland and Romania and overseen an increased naval presence in the Black Sea.