Baltic states – A mixture of Polish, Portuguese, and Norwegian troops, alongside native soldiers, were locked in a fierce battle with American forces last month as they swept into Lithuania with the aim of subduing the country. But this wasn’t yet another conflict to plague the already war-torn Baltics, where fierce fighting is ongoing in neighboring Ukraine, but rather an effort to prevent the existing one from spreading.
November saw the Lithuanian military hold its annual military exercise, this time dubbed Strong Griffin 2023. While such wargames are nothing new, this was the first time that the United States sent soldiers and equipment of its own to participate. 2,200 troops in total took part, including 700 Americans. The Americans’ mission was to probe the Lithuanians’ defenses in order to expose weaknesses which can then be addressed.
The exercise took place in Pabradė, which lies only ten miles from the country’s border with Belarus. Belarus enjoys close relations with the Russian Federation and has served as a staging area for Russian forces being sent to Ukraine. Russia even recently secured permission to base nuclear weapons there. As such, it is seen as a likely flashpoint should Russia decide to expand its military operations further in the Baltics.
While no one expects Russia to expand its conflict in the region beyond Ukraine in the immediate future, Estonian intelligence expects that the country will be able to return to its pre-war levels of militarization within four years. According to a recent report by them, “Russia considers the Baltic states to be the most vulnerable part of NATO, which would make them a focus of military pressure in the event of a NATO-Russia conflict.”
Even though Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania have increased their military readiness – and in Latvia’s case, introduced conscription – in response to Russian threats, they are also hoping to become the hosts of permanent American and NATO military bases, seeing this as the best way to deter Russia from a possible assault.
“Western military industries have been depleted for 30 years,” former Latvian Minister of Defense ArtisPabrikstold Stars and Stripes. “There is not enough ammunition, there is not enough stocks, there is not enough U.S. presence in Europe. European armies, most of the Western armies are quite weak actually.”