A Russian general has encouraged Vladimir Putin to go to war with NATO and seize three cities in key member countries.
His remarks will increase fears that the Kremlin is seeking a major confrontation with the West.
Major-General Nikolay Plotnikov is a reservist tank commander who also works as a professor at the Institute of Oriental Studies in Moscow.
During a discussion on Russian state TV, the Major-General called on Putin to correct a “historical mistake” made by Lenin and Stalin.
He said the Kremlin should seize control of Narva in Estonia, Klaipeda in Lithuania and Daugavpils in Latvia.
“Younger colleagues told me it is time to correct the historical injustice perpetrated by Vladimir Lenin, when the Russian Empire collapsed, and [Soviet dictator] Josef Stalin,” he said.
He explained that this “correction” meant “bringing back into Russia Narva [Estonia], Dvinsk, now known as Daugavpils [Latvia] and Memel, now known as Klaipeda [Lithuania]”.
Both Narva and Klaipeda are port cities offering access to the Baltic Sea, while Daugavpils is a major railway junction and industrial centre.
Moreover Narva forms the border with Russia and has a population who are overwhelmingly Russian.
The tank commander criticised the Baltic States for supporting Ukraine, threatening them with “consequences” if they continued to back Kyiv.
“The people in these countries should stop supporting Ukraine, otherwise they will face the consequences,” he warned.
Tensions in the Baltics are running high after Russia‘s Defence Ministry published a resolution last week proposing to change Moscow’s maritime borders with Finland and Lithuania in the Baltic Sea from January 2025.
The redefined coordinates would see Moscow declaring Finnish and Lithuanian areas of the sea as Russian.
The text of the bill was posted on the official website of the Registry of Laws on May 21 and subsequently removed.
The move provoked angry responses from the Baltic States, as well as Sweden and Finland.
Lithuania’s foreign minister, Gabrielius Landsbergis wrote on X: “This is an obvious escalation of tensions against NATO and the European Union that requires an appropriate firm response.”