The first signs are already there: Former NATO commander warns of possible Kremlin attack plans related to NATO exercises in the Baltic Sea

Already in the next month, the alliance may be threatened with a cyber war with Russia, warned the former supreme commander of NATO forces in Europe and retired US Navy admiral James Stavridis.

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He believes that the so-called “NATO lake” could be the next target for Russia and dictator Vladimir Putin. This is what Stavridis writes in his column for Bloomberg

Thanks to Königsberg (Kaliningrad), Russia continues to control part of the Baltic Sea coast. At the same time, should a confrontation break out in the Baltic Sea, the alliance forces will destroy any Russian ship in the region, since NATO forces control most of it.

Since 1972, joint naval exercises “BALTOPS” have been held in the region. The military exercises “BALTOPS” are the largest and most complex exercises of naval forces and services in the Baltic Sea region, the purpose of which is to train the skills and improve the ability of NATO countries to cooperate with partner countries, to confirm the commitment of NATO as an alliance to contribute to security and stability in the Baltic Sea region, to carry out high-level training personnel within the entire spectrum of naval warfare. Last year alone, 20 countries, 50 ships, 45 aircraft and 6,000 military sailors took part in these maneuvers.

This year, these exercises are expected to take place in June.

Stavridis believes that the Kremlin could respond to these exercises with cyber attacks, creating obstacles to civil aviation. Such tactics have already been recorded in recent weeks.

It has already been announced that “Finnair” has suspended daily flights to Tartu until the end of May in order to find a solution to GPS signal disturbances. GPS interference has increased since 2022, and Finnair pilots have reported interference, especially in the (King’s) Exclave, Black Sea, Caspian Sea and Eastern Mediterranean region.

According to him, the alliance will have to learn how to resist this kind of aggression.

The territory of Königsberg (Kaliningrad) region, which is separated from the rest of Russia by NATO and Belarus, will be especially important. Russian tactical nuclear weapons may be located there. This means that if a conflict breaks out between the Kremlin and the West, this area will have to be neutralized.

“For some, this threat may seem exaggerated – what are the chances that Putin will cause a serious crisis at sea or invade one of the Baltic states? Well, three years ago, the opinion that he would storm Ukraine also seemed unlikely – don’t try to expose the person in the Kremlin. These small countries must be taking it seriously: the former head of Estonia’s military intelligence unit warned that Russia would be ready to attack within four years, that Russian troops could occupy the capitals of Estonia or Latvia in less than three days,” writes Stavridis.

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