FLASH
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NATO will launch strikes deep into Russian territory if Moscow invades the Baltic states, the latest warning from Estonia's foreign minister, Margus Tsahkna, signals a tough stance from the alliance's eastern flank.
In an interview with 'The Telegraph', Margus Tsahkna said that NATO's response to any attack on Estonia, Latvia or Lithuania would extend beyond their borders.
" We will bring the war to Russia and we will have very deep attacks, very deep into Russia. We know exactly what we have to do. That is why we are now accelerating our investments and developing our capabilities... that is why we are investing 5 percent of GDP in defense in our region ," he told the newspaper on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference.
His comments come amid growing concern across Europe that Russia could test NATO's collective defense commitments.
Over the past year, repeated incursions by drones and fighter jets near the alliance’s airspace have fueled suspicions that Moscow is probing Western defenses and timing its response. Russia has also expanded its military “footprint” near NATO territory. Along its border with Finland, Moscow has increased troop levels and upgraded bases.
It has also restructured its western military districts and intensified the militarization of Kaliningrad, its Baltic Sea enclave nestled among NATO members. At sea, Russia's so-called "shadow fleet" has been linked to sabotage incidents targeting undersea telecommunications and power cables connecting Scandinavia and the Baltic states.
Separately, in January, NATO launched “Baltic Sentry,” a joint mission aimed at deterring and preventing attacks on critical infrastructure in the Baltic Sea. The warning comes after harsh rhetoric from Moscow. In April 2025, Sergey Naryshkin, the head of Russia’s foreign intelligence service, said that Poland and the Baltic states would be prime targets if NATO engaged in what he called “aggression.”
Speaking to the state-run RIA Novosti news agency, he said Russia would cause “damage” to the entire military alliance if threatened by NATO, but that Poland and Lithuania would be “the first to suffer.” And in response to what they see as a growing threat, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have significantly increased defense spending, with plans to allocate up to 5 to 6 percent of GDP to military budgets.
Estonia has also passed legislation requiring new office and apartment buildings above a certain size to include bunkers or bomb shelters. And in Latvia, officials in April 2024 urged residents to convert basements into bomb shelters. Meanwhile, Lithuania, in May last year, said it would spend the equivalent of $1.25 billion to strengthen its eastern border defenses due to the growing threat from Russia.
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