ERR: NATO Considering Boosting Capabilities In Baltics

Wires and social media carring headlines stating that Estonian Public Broadcasting (ERR) is reporting that NATO is considering 'boosting its capabilities in the Baltics'.

• This headline should be taken with some caution as there is no confirmation of the comments from NATO at present.
• However, if true it would come at an extremely tense time. Ukraine and the West remains on high alert for signs of a Russian incursion following a mass troop buildup on Ukraine's borders with Russia.
• For years the Baltics states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have raised their concerns about potential Russian incursions into their territory. Each state has a sizeable ethnic Russian minority, the defence of which the Baltic gov'ts have said could be used as a pretext for Russian military manoeuvres.
• All three Baltic states are NATO and EU member states, making any incursion into their territory a very different scenario to Russian action in Ukraine, which sits outside the bloc's 'Article 5' protection. Article 5 states that an attack on one NATO state is an attack on all, raising the prospect of major retaliation should any incursion take place.
• Should NATO beef up its presence in the Baltics, Russia would almost certainly see this as an aggressive act by the West, rather than a defensive one.