PUTIN will not stop at Ukraine and has set his sights on three targets to rebuild the Russian empire, Latvia’s leader has warned.
President Edgars Rinkevics said seizing the Baltics will be the second stage of the tyrant’s deranged dream to regain a lost empire.
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At RUSI’s headquarters in Whitehall, Rinkevics delivered a sobering assessment on the unsteady future of European security in the face of an increasingly aggressive Russia.
He said all outcomes of Russia’s 27-month war against Ukraine will likely lead to more bloodshed as the Kremlin is guided by “resentment for its lost empire”.
“If Russia feels it has won in Ukraine the temptation will be for it to continue… if it feels it was 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 Asia regions, he said.
This sweeping Hitler-style land grab could include countries such as Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia as well as Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan – all of which are sustained targets of Russian influence.
The security order of Europe will be threatened for “years if not decades to come,” Rinkevics warned during his three-day UK visit this week.
Fresh from his meeting with the King, Rinkevics argued his small nation was already fighting against a “hybrid war” waged by the Kremlin.
Rinkevics said: “Is Latvia fearful 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 Russia invasion of Latvia “in the next few years” due to the safety net of Nato.
However, his concern was the waves of hybrid attacks being launched to destabilise his country.
Russia, he said, increasingly operates in this “grey zone”.
“Russia is testing our borders, carrying out sabotage attacks, our security services are working round the clock, there have been many arrests… citizens are being recruited on social media… and deep fakes are interfering with electoral campaigns.”
“How will Nato respond?” he asked.
But Rinkevics had no questions when it came to Ukraine. His message was clear: “Nato is failing in its assistance.”
Is Latvia fearful of a Russian attack? We need to be prepared for all types of scenarios
President Rinkevics
The politician demanded the alliance be clearer in its long-term commitment to Ukraine and despaired over delays in Western weapon deliveries.
He scolded the vague phrases being churned out by Western politicians, particularly in the US, that pledged to support Kyiv “for as long as it takes” or “as much as necessary”.
Instead, he wanted watertight guarantees so that “necessary tactical decisions” can be made.
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Rinkevics was gearing up to make his core argument that Western weapons “must be” supplied to Ukraine with no strings attached.
He said: “We must 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 has argued for months that prohibiting strikes on military targets inside Russia was helping Putin win the war.
He says it left his troops unable to wipe out key bases used to strike Ukrainian cities and helpless to prevent Moscow’s new Kharkiv offensive.
Putin’s ‘ceasefire’ plot in Ukraine
RUSSIAN tyrant Vladimir Putin is reportedly prepared to end the war in Ukraine – if Kyiv agrees to give up all of its territory stolen by his bloodthirsty forces over the years
He is considering the so-called “ceasefire” deal, sources close to his inner circle have said, as an end to the meatgrinder frontline fighting.
The warmonger president was reportedly frustrated at Western efforts to axe the plot – and Ukrainian leader Zelensky’s decision to rule out talks.
One of the sources close to the Kremlin said: “Putin can fight for as long as it takes, but Putin is also ready for a ceasefire to freeze the war.”
The brutal fighting kicked up a notch when Russia opened a fresh front in Ukraine’s second-biggest city, Kharkiv.
Brave Ukrainian troops are battling to hold Vlad’s armies at bay – and Putin is haemorrhaging soldiers in his battles of attrition.
But the horrific war, having now stretched on for more than two years, shows little sign of ending soon.
While the UK has hinted Ukraine is allowed to do what it wants, the US has repeatedly said it will not allow its long-range missiles to be fired at Russia.
Rinkevics disagreed with arguments that allowing Kyiv’s forces to strike Russian soil with Western weapons would escalate Nato-Russia tensions.
“Russia is always escalating,” he said, referring to Russia’s recent attempts to redraw its sea borders with Latvia and Lithuania and removing border markers in Estonian waters.
NEW DEFENCES
As Moscow ramps up its escalating threats towards its neighbouring Nato countries, they are responding with a military buildup.
Latvia, alongside Lithuania and Estonia, has a grand plan to build a network of hundreds of bunkers to shore up Nato’s eastern flank.
The trio are also part of a newly signed plan to create a “drone wall” stretching from Norway to Poland to shield Europe from the threat of Russia.
Thousands of surveillance and possibly armed drones are set to patrol the tense frontier.
Elaborating on the plan to The Times, Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics said Europe has returned to the “darkest days of the Cold War”.
He revealed that the unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) will monitor attempts by Russia and Belarus to use large numbers of migrants as a “weapon” and other provocations.
Although he said the drones will mostly be used for reconnaissance, he did not rule out that armed drones may also be deployed.
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