In an interview with the daily Rzeczpospolita, the director of the Polish foreign secret service drew attention to the growing risk of Russian provocations on the eastern wing of the North Atlantic Alliance (NATO). According to the DPA agency, Colonel Pawel Szota warned that Russia could launch a limited attack in the Baltics. TASR informs about it.
The British newspaper The Guardian wrote this week that Russia is preparing possible military provocations against Poland or the Baltic countries to directly test NATO’s cohesion and its member states’ commitment to collective defense.
But according to the Latvian intelligence service, it would not be a full-scale attack. In an interview published over the weekend, Szota said that a possible limited outage could take the form of a so-called “green men”. This is a reference to soldiers in uniforms of unclear nationality. According to the DPA, this is how Russian soldiers took control of the Ukrainian Crimean Peninsula in 2014.
“We are following developments in Ukraine and we see that the war is not going well for Russia at the moment. This raises concerns that Moscow could escalate the situation even more.” the head of Polish intelligence, saying that Russia is “systematically crossing red lines to test NATO’s response”. “The costs of such provocations are low, while the Alliance responds mainly with political measures, leading to further escalation,” he added.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and other Kremlin officials repeatedly say that Russia has no intention of attacking NATO territory. However, according to DPA, intelligence services and military units in several NATO countries have repeatedly expressed concern about possible escalation, even if they do not agree on its timing and extent, writes DPA.
The Latvian secret service announced earlier this week that Russia, which invaded Ukraine militarily in February 2022, currently lacks the capacity to open a second front. However, it is reportedly considering hybrid actions that would send a clear signal to the countries supporting Kyiv. Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski also warned last week that Russia could undertake false flag operations.
