As of: March 7, 2024, 7:49 p.m
By: Philipp Bräuner
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Press
Split
Lithuania sees Russia's behavior as a precursor to a “Cold War 2.0”.
Russia, on the other hand, accuses NATO of destabilizing the world.
Vilnius – The Lithuanian secret service sees Russia on a collision course with NATO.
This emerges from its annual report, which was presented on Thursday, March 7th in Vilnius, reports the
dpa
.
Not only were there no signs of de-escalation efforts on the part of Russia in the war against Ukraine.
In addition, “Russia is preparing for a long-term confrontation with NATO, including in the Baltic Sea region,” the secret service writes in its report.
Lithuanian secret service sees Russia on a collision course with NATO
In this context, the word confrontation is not synonymous with war, says Colonel Elegijus Paulavicius from military intelligence to the
BNS agency.
Rather, a confrontation should be viewed as “Cold War 2.0”.
The probability of this depends on the course and outcome of the war in Ukraine.
Bundeswehr mountain troops at the NATO exercise “Nordic Response 2024”.
Russia accuses the alliance of destabilizing the world situation through its maneuvers.
© Kay Nietfeld/dpa
But Lithuania is not the only one accusing it of provoking a conflict between NATO and Russia.
In view of the NATO series of maneuvers “Steadfast Defender”, Russia accuses the defense alliance of destabilizing the world situation.
Nikolai Patrushev, secretary of the Russian National Security Council, told the Interfax
news agency on Thursday
about the maneuvers: “Without a doubt, this increases tensions and destabilizes the situation in the world.”
Russia accuses NATO of destabilizing the world situation because of maneuvers
On this occasion, Patrushev also repeated Vladimir Putin's accusation of directly interfering in the war by providing military aid to Kiev.
Not only did he, like Putin, warn the West against sending ground troops in his State of the Nation speech last week;
that could have “tragic” consequences.
NATO troops, including Bundeswehr forces, are currently training to recapture an occupied area in northern Europe during the “Nordic Response 2024” exercise.
According to
tagesschau
, a total of around 20,000 soldiers are involved, including 1,500 from Germany.
In addition, 100 aircraft as well as frigates and submarines are in use.
(
pkb
)