Russia is stepping up its provocations against European countries, acting below the threshold that could trigger NATO’s Article 5. One such incident was the violation of the Latvian border, when unknown masked gunmen damaged border equipment and took away surveillance cameras.
This was stated by Vaidotas Maliniolis, a reserve colonel of the Lithuanian Armed Forces and a national security expert, in a comment to Viktor Šlinčák in the programme “Critical Thinking” on Apostrophe TV.
“Up to 20 people, with the help of two or three masked men, tried to enter the territory of Latvia. The next day, a group also entered the territory of Latvia. They damaged some infrastructure, took several cameras and disappeared,” said Maliniolis.
Why NATO does not use Article Five
The tactic of such provocations is to create threats to European states without crossing the line beyond which the Alliance could regard the events as an armed attack.
According to Maliniolis, Russia is trying to exploit this uncertainty by increasing pressure on European countries without resorting to open military confrontation.
“Russia is acting below the threshold of Article Five, and we see that these provocations are intensifying. The escalation continues,” the expert emphasised.
He also noted that the threat is not limited to individual states or border areas.
internet.ua“If we talk about attacks in the grey area, I would say that all of Europe is under this attack, the entire continent is under attack,” Maliniolis said.
