Nato has dispatched four battalion-sized battle groups, one deployed in Poland and one in each of the three Baltic republics: Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. The whole effort is prompted by the shock emanating from Russia’s seizure and subsequent annexation of the Crimea, and its continuing support for rebel groups in eastern Ukraine. If Moscow could tear up the rule-book of security in post-Cold War Europe by carving off a slice of Ukraine, many fear the Baltic republics – also territory of the former Soviet Union – could be next.
How much of a threat does Russia pose, and to whom?
