Pentagon Urges Baltics to Tone Down Russia Rhetoric — SkimNews
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- Pentagon asked Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia in recent weeks to tone down public statements about the threat posed by Russia, delivering the requests in bilateral meetings; the advice was cordial rather than confrontational.
- Elbridge Colby delivered part of the outreach, telling a Baltic official there should be no “poking” of Russia and citing rhetoric portraying Moscow as “cornered like a rat”; in a separate meeting, the Pentagon urged an Estonian delegation to be “measured.”
- Trump administration restarted its effort to negotiate an end to the full-scale Ukraine war, pairing potential sanctions relief for Russia with pressure on Ukraine to halt attacks on Russian energy infrastructure.
- Baltic intelligence services have consistently played down the probability that Russia will test NATO's mutual-defense provisions, while other NATO intelligence services publicly warn of a dramatic near-term ramp-up in sabotage; one European official called the Pentagon's advice baffling in that context.
- Russia has intensified deniable attacks on NATO countries, according to Western intelligence officials; the German government blamed Moscow for a September drone attack at Leipzig/Halle Airport, which Moscow denied, while German prosecutors separately arrested two Belarusians over an alleged arson plan near Nuremberg.
- U.S. officials are discussing potential business deals with Russia as part of the Trump administration's Ukraine peace push, drawing mixed reactions; many European officials favor continued economic isolation of the Kremlin.
- Pentagon force planners are reviewing Washington's posture in Europe, and the review includes the possibility of a sharp U.S. troop drawdown as European NATO members are asked to assume more defense responsibility while U.S. attention shifts to the Middle East, Latin America and East Asia.
Why it matters: The rhetoric dispute comes during a Pentagon force review that contemplates a sharp U.S. troop drawdown, while U.S. officials discuss possible Russia business deals and sanctions relief in the Ukraine peace push. Baltic states are being asked to assume greater defense responsibility while Western intelligence officials attribute sabotage to Moscow.
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