This terrific article by James K. Wither is a must-read for everyone concerned with military strategy in the Baltic region. It is published in Small Wars Journal under the title ”Modern Guerrillas” and the Defense of the Baltic States. The best prospect to deter or if necessary defend an attack on the Baltic States remains […]
Lithuania
Cyber attack targeted Lithuanian defense minister
Defense minister Raimundas Karoblis and government institutions were the targets of a small cyber attack against Lithuania on Thursday. The attack consisted of three different elements. First institutions from the government, ministries, and embassies received emails containing an attached file with a virus. Then at 19.15 hackers took over the website tv3.lt and posted a […]
More US soldiers and Baltic Sea Policing Mission among ICDS recommendations for NATO
How should the United States and NATO prioritize their resources to the Baltic States? That is the topic of this policy paper that Erik Marmei and Gabriel White have written for ICDS. The policy paper outlines a series of weaknesses with the defense in the Baltic States. It is pointed out that despite the fact […]
The Baltic nations would be hard to beat
One of the things that I didn’t touch on in my description about how a war between Russia and the West will play out was the resistance that the populations of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania would muster after a Russian occupation. That was a deliberate omission because you just can’t fit everything into one piece, […]
Maybe former Soviet republics don’t like to be Russia’s “sphere of interest”
Mikhail Barabanov in Moscow Defense Brief: Russia holds the Zapad drills along its western borders once every four years; the previous such event took place in 2013. This year, however, the reaction from some of Russia’s neighbors to the west has been nothing short of hysterical. […] For all the Western concerns, the scenario of […]
Lithuania gives old weapons to Ukraine
Lithuania has decided to give some of its old weapons to Ukraine. This is some 7000 Kalashnikovs, machine guns, mortars, anti-tank weapons, and other equipment including ammunition. The total value of the weapons is just a little short of €2 million. This is the third time that Lithuania supplies weapons to Ukraine. The first time […]
Lithuania hopes for NATO air defense agreement in 2018
Lithuanian defense minister Raimundas Karoblis says he hopes that the NATO countries can reach an agreement in 2018 on the principles for a comprehensive air defense concept for the Baltic region, writes Delfi.lt. According to the Lithuanian minister the problem is political, as the technical details are mostly worked out. He therefore hopes that air […]
Lithuania acquires Norwegian air defense system
Lithuania has announced the purchase of the Norwegian air defense system NASAMS in a €109 million deal with Kongsberg. The system is expected to be fully operational in 2021, reports armyreconition.com. NASAMS is a ground based solution with air defense radars and surface launched medium range missiles. Such a system will be very useful in […]
Lithuania increases defense spending to meet 2 percent goal
Lithuania will increase defense spending to hit the NATO target of 2 percent of GDP in 2018, reports AFP according to digigataljournal.com. With that the total number of NATO countries to meet the goal is up to eight: United States Greece Britain Poland Romania Estonia Latvia Lithuania AFP quotes Lithuania’s defense minister Raimundas Karoblis for […]
Lithuanian borders violated by Russia and Belarus in September
You would expect border guards to know where the border is. Or at least you would think that border guards had enough respect for the concept of a border to keep a safe margin if they are in doubt. But nevertheless there were two cases in September where border guards entered illegally into Lithuania. The […]
