Putin may attack Lithuania or Poland if war in Ukraine ends - Bild
The West fears that Russia may attack Poland or Lithuania if the war against Ukraine ends.
This is reported by Bild, Censor.NET reports.
"If the fighting in Ukraine ends, the threat to us will increase," said Estonian Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur.
About 800,000 Russian soldiers will not go home in the event of a ceasefire, Pevkur says, but will have new orders. The intelligence services agree with him. As Bild has learned, in the event of a ceasefire, Western intelligence fears that Russian troops will quickly move from Ukraine to the borders of Finland and Norway, as well as to the Baltic states and Belarus, almost to the border with Poland.
According to the intelligence services, there are already plans for this, and in recent months Russia has prepared the relevant infrastructure. So far, only the war in Ukraine has prevented their implementation.
The source claims that if a ceasefire is reached in the near future and Russia is confident in its reliability, it may deploy troops to Belarus during the Zapad 2025 exercise. At the same time, the source recalls that Russia used military maneuvers in Belarus as an excuse to deploy its army near the Ukrainian border in 2021. This time, the possible targets are Lithuania or Poland.
"Of course, we all want peace to come to Ukraine. But we have to be honest: if the war continues, West 2025 will remain just a maneuver, as the key forces will be occupied elsewhere. If it ends on Russia's terms, the West could be the beginning of a new war against us," the publication quotes an anonymous official as saying.
"Russia perceives weakness as an opportunity for new conquests. After Georgia came Crimea, then Donbas, then Ukraine. If we make it clear to Putin that he can keep the annexed territories, he will choose his next, bigger target," another source added.
