Russian Senator Alexei Pushkov is confident that the appearance in the West of rumors about a threat allegedly emanating from Kaliningrad is not a preparation for its capture, but is aimed at inciting hysteria around Russia.
According to him, the United States and NATO must constantly justify the saturation of the Baltic States, Poland and the Baltic Sea with their armed forces, as well as involve Finland in the military maneuvers of the alliance and push Sweden to join it.
“Without such regular“ analytical hysteria ”and accompanying media support of NATO, a military organization will lose its meaning and it will only have to promote LGBT rights,” the senator wrote on his Telegram channel on March 22.
On the same day, it became known that the foreign ministers of 30 NATO countries will hold their first face-to-face meeting after the pandemic on March 23 and 24. US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken will also participate in it. It is planned to discuss preparations for the summit of the alliance, relations with Russia and China and problems with the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan.
At the same time, a separate meeting will be devoted to countering Russia, which will be held on Wednesday, March 24. The head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, and the foreign ministers of Finland and Sweden, members of the EU, but not NATO members, are invited to it.
Also on Monday, Alliance Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that NATO considers Russia’s actions in recent years more and more aggressive. He stressed that the alliance continues to adhere to a “combined” approach in relations with the Russian Federation.
In addition, on March 22, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko, during a speech in the State Duma, said that relations between Russia and NATO are now at their lowest point since the end of the Cold War. He noted that so far there is no positive agenda in the dialogue between the Russian Federation and the alliance.
On March 7, the former commander of the Polish Land Forces, General Waldemar Skshipczak, proposed scenarios for hypothetical military operations near Kaliningrad between Russia and NATO. For example, the former military leader said that the region plays the role of a “gateway” to the Baltic Sea and the Polish lowland, from where the path to Central and Western Europe begins.
He noted that the main forces of the Baltic Fleet and the troops of the Kaliningrad Defense Region (KOR) are stationed in the Kaliningrad region. In the event of the outbreak of hostilities, these units, he said, will ensure Russia’s superiority over the enemy in the Baltic region at sea and in the air.
Skshipchak expressed confidence that Russian troops would need from two to four days to capture the Baltic states, and the resistance of NATO military forces in these territories would help. In the future, military operations, in his opinion, may unfold in the southern part of the Baltic Sea in the direction of the coast of Poland.
In turn, the governor of the Kaliningrad region, Anton Alikhanov, commenting on Skshipchak’s statements, said that one should not be distracted by psychological complexes and messages from individual Polish generals, especially retired ones.
In February, Polish media suggested that Russia could start an armed conflict with NATO countries from Kaliningrad territory, because it is strategically conveniently located.