After Ukraine: Are the Baltics next?

Available for over a year

People living in Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia - are wondering whether they could be the next target for President Putin. His invasion of Ukraine has sent shockwaves through the three small Baltic states - and other countries on NATO’s eastern flank like Romania and Poland. Like Ukraine, the Baltic nations have ethnic Russian minorities and were - until 1991 - part of the Soviet Union. Could Putin now claim - as he has done with Ukraine - that the Baltics are not real countries and are in fact part of Russia’s ‘spiritual space’? NATO are bolstering their troop numbers in their frontline states including the Baltics, and under the alliance’s article 5, an attack on one is an attack on all. So would Putin ever dare attack a NATO member? And has his invasion of Ukraine merely strengthened the alliance, and encouraged neutral states like Sweden and Finland to consider joining the alliance?