WW3 fears spiral as Russia ‘plotting attack’ on NATO country | World | News
Ukrainian firefighters working to extinguish a fire at the site of a Russian air attack in Kyiv (Image: Getty)
Fears are mounting Vladimir Putin could be on the verge of triggering World War III after “unusual” Russian military movements were spotted close to a NATO member country. Estonian Defence Minister Hanno Pevkur said the Kremlin conducted live-fire exercises for the first time near the border of his country with Russia on July 9. Mr Pevkur said Moscow forces carried out the dangerous war games on Lake Peipus, which straddles the border between the two countries, without notifying Estonian authorities. Mr Pevkur said the Russian operation was “unusual” and “certainly not routine”.
He added: “Russia has not previously conducted weapons exercises on Lake Peipus. In that sense, this is something new. They were firing at a moving target on the water.” The alarming live-fire operation comes as the United States warned Poland that Russia was planning to use drones falsely identified as Ukrainian to carry out a “false flag” attack which Moscow could use a “provocation” to launch a counter-strike against a NATO nation.
On Wednesday Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda said he also had intelligence that Putin was plotting an attack on his country’s “critical infrastructure”, such as the national power grid.
Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda said Russia could be plotting an attack (Image: Getty)
At a meeting with his Latvian counterpart, President Nauseda said: “I cannot deny that we have such information and that it concerns limited kinetic operations likely targeting critical infrastructure.”
President Nausėda said that authorities were monitoring the risk of attacks that could disrupt the country’s energy and transport systems, including facilities supporting Lithuania’s connections with the European electricity grid.
Russia has dismissed the claim as an excuse to justify NATO’s military buildup in the Baltics.
Latvian President Rinkēvičs also warned that with Ukraine being increasingly effective at putting pressure on Russia, Moscow might respond with provocations against NATO’s eastern flank – triggering Article 5 which demands a collective allied response to an attack on any member state.
“Even without a total Ukrainian victory, Russia may indirectly test Article 5 and response mechanisms at the Alliance and European Union levels,” Mr Rinkēvičs said, “the next few months, or even the next 12 months, will be crucial for Baltic security.”
Putin could be plotting an attack to test NATO (Image: Getty)
The three Baltic states — Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia — and Poland, all located on NATO’s eastern flank, have strengthened security around key transport and energy infrastructure in recent months in response to the Russian threat.
The countries say they have long been targets of Russian hybrid attacks, a threat that has intensified since Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began on February 24, 2022.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, Poland intercepted Russian aircraft over the Baltic Sea that, according to the Polish government, were conducting surveillance of Poland’s air defence systems, despite remaining outside Polish territorial waters.
In Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov dismissed the Lithuanian intelligence warning about Russia’s purported plans to launch attacks on infrastructure in the Baltics and elsewhere in Europe.
“It’s a fresh batch of bugaboos intended to continue the brainwashing and prepare the population for further militarisation,” Peskov told reporters.
“To do this, they need to create an enemy image on the other side, our side in this case,” he said. “And use it as a pretext to continue moving NATO military infrastructure in all its forms into the Baltic states.”
On Monday, the European Union said that Russia’s spy branch, FSB Center 16, had conducted cyberespionage and sabotage against defence industries and critical infrastructure across Europe, including a December attack against a Polish combined heat and power plant supplying heat to almost 500,000 customers.
A recent report from the International Institute of Strategic Studies think tank said that Russia likely used shadow ships to launch drones over Europe that repeatedly disrupted civilian aviation between 2024 and 2026.
The Baltic region is under additional strain from stray Ukrainian drones that have reached Baltic countries as Ukraine ramped up attacks on Baltic Sea ports used for Russian energy exports.
In mid-May, Latvian Prime Minister Evika Siliņa resigned over the government’s handling of multiple incidents involving stray drones suspected to be from Ukraine crossing into Latvian territory.
In late May, for the first time in a NATO and European Union capital, Lithuanians were pictured sheltering in underground parking garages in the capital, Vilnius, as authorities warned of unidentified drone activity.
