Baltic nations push for change at NATO summit

Everything changed when Russia invaded Ukraine and NATO’s defense strategy must now account for the new security environment on Europe’s eastern flank. That’s the coordinated message from the three Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania ahead of NATO’s all-important Madrid summit this week.

Bolstering the defense of the Baltic region is seen as one of the most important decisions for NATO leaders to take at the group’s June 29-30 summit.

The 30-member military alliance is poised to reflect on how the group can respond to Europe’s new security reality.

Russia’s onslaught in Ukraine, now into its fifth month, has ratcheted up fears throughout the Baltic countries that they may be President Vladimir Putin’s next military target.

All member states of both NATO and the European Union, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have repeatedly called on NATO to provide a substantial increase in the number of foreign troops stationed in the region following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24.

The Baltic countries have also pushed for an urgent update to the alliance’s so-called “tripwire” approach.

That’s because, under NATO’s existing strategy, Estonia’s Prime Minister Kaja Kallas has warned that the former Soviet state and its historic capital city of Tallinn would be “wiped off the map” in the event of a Russian attack, according to The Financial Times.

Kallas told reporters last week that NATO’s tripwire approach, which involves a relatively small number of troops, would likely see Estonia overrun before NATO then took measures to liberate them after 180 days.

“There is a shared understanding that the tripwire approach is obsolete — Bucha and Irpin cannot be repeated,” a spokesperson at Estonia’s foreign ministry told CNBC, referring to atrocities committed by Russian forces in two western suburbs of Kyiv.

“Simply put, we’re saying ‘don’t come because you will lose. Don’t even think of coming,'” they added. “We need to move to deterrence by denial. We need a credible military construct on the Eastern flank that will deter Putin. This should include more Allied presence.”

A spokesperson for NATO was not immediately available to comment.

The U.K., which has been a NATO framework nation for the forces in Estonia since 2017, has doubled its forces in the country following Russia’s actions since the start of the year. France and Denmark, among others, have also increased their presence in Estonia in recent months.

Even though the Baltic states have been a part of NATO and the EU since 2004, with all three using the euro as their currency, their geographic location makes them vulnerable. Like Ukraine, they all share a border with Russia.