Putin is likely to hit NATO in the Baltic if he wins in Ukraine, EU vice president warns – POLITICO Europe

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Russian President Vladimir Putin is likely to ramp up his military ambitions and challenge NATO in the Baltic Sea countries of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia unless he is stopped in Ukraine, European Commission Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis warned in an interview with POLITICO.

The trade commissioner, who grew up in the Soviet Union and draws on his experience as a former prime minister of Latvia, said the EU had to take the Russian threat seriously, after years of equivocation by Brussels toward Moscow.

If we do not support Ukraine, its not going to stop in Ukraine. Clearly Putin is now in some kind of aggressive war mood and unfortunately it is likely that this aggression will continue in other countries, he said.

Asked whether he was particularly worried about Moldova, he identified the Baltic countries as a concern. If you look at escalating Russias aggressive rhetoric and even statements claiming Russia supporting Belarusian interests in having access to Baltic Sea, and the increasing anti-Baltic rhetoric well in Ukraine, it also started with increasing anti-Ukrainian rhetoric.

The prediction that the Baltic countries could be next in Putins sights following the invasion of Ukraine reflects the level of alarm in some quarters of the European Commission over Putins next move. Dombrovskis has long warned of the threat posed by the Russian president.

While accepting that Russias nuclear threat was serious, Dombrovskis warned against appeasing the Russian leader.

The question is: To what extent we are giving in to this blackmail because it can be used all the time against everything? Putin will continue his aggressive wars, he will always use this blackmail, he said. These are lessons that should have been learned before. Appeasement of the aggressor is not working, and the aggressor needs to be stopped by all means.

Dombrovskis was also skeptical about diplomatic overtures to Putin. The question is whether they bring some tangible results in terms of stopping the war, or at least providing a cease-fire or humanitarian corridors. Currently, none of these unfortunately materialized. French President Emmanuel Macron has been playing a lead role in Europes outreach to Putin, with the Russian president also speaking to European Council President Charles Michel and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in recent days.

The former Latvian prime minister stressed new sanctions on Russia could come within days.

Nothing should be off the table, said Dombrovsksis, including in the energy sector. We should do more, because this aggression unfortunately is not stopping so we should see a way in a sense to stop Putins ability to finance this war.

Although Dombrovskis is taking a hard line, it is far from clear that Europe would be able to crack down hard on Russian energy as Germany is dead set against such a measure.

The measures under discussion are in the field of crypto assets; steps to widen the list of banks cut off from the SWIFT payments system; and removing Russias most favored nation status at the World Trade Organization.

Dombrovskis also wanted to extend import bans already agreed on for Belarus to Russia to avoid a loophole round the embargo.

On the possibility of targeting Russian oil and gas, Dombrovskis said an assessmentby the European Commissionwas ongoing, but he stressed that nothing should be off the table. Amid a surge in oil prices following speculation that the United States could ban Russian oil, the Commission said thatdoing something on oil maybe somewhat less disruptive than doing something on gas.

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Putin is likely to hit NATO in the Baltic if he wins in Ukraine, EU vice president warns - POLITICO Europe