Vaikšnoras: if Russia returns forces to the Western Military District, we will automatically be threatened

2025 m. sausio 31 d. 15:09
Lrytas.lt
Army Commander General Raimundas Vaikšnoras says that Moscow is likely to move its troops to the Western Military District after the Russian war in Ukraine ends with peace talks.
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He stressed that this would automatically threaten Lithuania, as Vladimir Putin might decide to test the NATO Alliance.
„At the beginning of the war in 2022, Russia attacked Ukraine with 145,000 troops, where they thought they would take Kyiv in three days and, as they said, bring down the regime and take power. Today, they have nearly 600,000 (ELTA) – three times more. What happens when the war stops (...) and we allow Russia to breathe? Where do these troops go? They all go back to Kaliningrad, to the Western Military District, where now, for example, there are only a few thousand in Kaliningrad, mainly conscripts. They will fill the divisions, brigades and corps here on the ground. This is an automatic threat to us,“ Vaikšnoras told Žinių Radijas on Thursday.
„Knowing that Putin is an opportunist, if we don't get along, especially in Europe and NATO, or if one or the other one comes up with doubts about unity, maybe it will be a good opportunity to test him. Of course, nobody says this will happen, but it is always possible. If we show weakness, he can take advantage of it“, he said.
The Army Commander also noted that Russia has managed to bring the country's industry under military rule, even amid its large-scale invasion of Ukraine.
„And they now produce twice as much ammunition and missiles as before the war,“ Vaikšnoras explained.
Darius Jauniškis, the Head of the State Security Department (VSD), also spoke to LRT Radio on Wednesday about how the outcome of Russia's war in Ukraine will fundamentally change Lithuania's security situation. He said it is realistic that Russia will move its forces closer to the Lithuanian border.
For his part, German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius, who visited Lithuania last week, said that, given the growth of the Russian military forces, there is still a theoretical possibility that the Kremlin may try to attack NATO countries in 2029–2030.
ELTA recalls that the annual report on national security threats, published in March last year, stated that Russia was preparing for a long-term confrontation with NATO. The document stated that „Russia will have the resources in the near term to both continue the war in Ukraine and to gradually expand its military capabilities in a strategic direction towards the West“.

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