MOSCOW, May 1. The Baltic countries will not be able to cope with the crisis caused by increased military spending and deteriorating relations with Russia, Nikolai Mezhevich, President of the Russian Association for Baltic Studies, told Baltnews.
«After 2022, when the entire West turned against Russia, the economic situation in the Baltic states, it has worsened even more. If earlier they could have at least hinted to Moscow, said that they had gone a little overboard (with the Russian-speaking population, with trade, with the restriction of the activities of the Russian Orthodox Church), then instead they chose the exact opposite tactic of tightening the screws,” he said. he.
According to Mezhevich, the Baltic countries have taken on an impossible task, cutting social spending and increasing the military. If the domestic markets of the USA, Russia and China are large enough to not depend on anyone, then none of the Baltic republics is capable of this, the analyst believes. That is why, the expert believes, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia have fewer and fewer reasons to rejoice.
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“You see, what a thing: the Russians, Chinese, and Americans can survive a doubling of military spending, but the Balts cannot. And sooner or later, this crisis will turn into a catastrophe,” he warned.
As President Vladimir Putin noted, the policy of containing and weakening Russia is a long-term strategy of the West. But, according to him, it will not be possible to isolate the country, while sanctions have dealt a serious blow to the entire global economy.