The head of Polish military counterintelligence has warned that Russian President Vladimir Putin is already prepared for a small operation against NATO frontier states in northeastern Europe, as the alliance seeks to deter aggression from Moscow while bolstering Ukraine against the ongoing Russian invasion.
"Putin is certainly already prepared for some mini-operation against one of the Baltic countries," Jarosław Stróżyk, who was appointed to lead the Polish military counterintelligence service in March—told the Dziennik Gazeta Prawna publication.
The Russian leader, he added, would be ready "to enter the famous Narva" border town along the Estonian-Russian frontier, "or to land on one of the Swedish islands."
Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which began in February 2022 as an extension of a war already being waged by Moscow since 2014, has thrust frayed Russian-NATO relations into deep freeze. The gambit also prompted Sweden and Finland to jettison their decades-long neutrality and join the transatlantic bloc.
Stróżyk suggested the Kremlin's revanchist goals have been somewhat checked by the NATO response to its war on Ukraine. "What the West is doing together to support Ukraine shows him that in the event of an attack on NATO, the Western response would be even greater," the spy chief said.
Newsweek has contacted the Kremlin by email to request comment.
Much of the Russian military strength typically arrayed along NATO frontiers has been redeployed to Ukraine, where Moscow's forces have sustained severe casualties for relatively little gain. But allied leaders have repeatedly warned that Russia intends to regenerate its military to threaten NATO borders, while maintaining and expanding covert and hybrid operations.
NATO nations, meanwhile, are rushing to refill arsenals emaciated by decades of low-intensity conflicts. Kyiv's Western partners have been unable to keep up with the demands of a full-scale modern war, particularly lacking in sufficient artillery and air defense resources.
Domestic political currents have also limited support at points, perhaps most notably in the U.S. where a $61 billion funding package for Ukraine was stranded for months in Washington, D.C. amid partisan politicking. Republicans have been generally more skeptical on aiding Ukraine than their Democratic rivals.
Former President Donald Trump, who will challenge President Joe Biden for the White House in November, has major influence over his party's policy on Russia and Ukraine. Trump has repeatedly suggested that Kyiv cede territory to Moscow to secure a peace deal, a proposal Ukrainian leaders say will fail to head off Putin's wider imperial ambitions.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
David Brennan is Newsweek's Diplomatic Correspondent covering world politics and conflicts from London with a focus on NATO, the European ... Read more
