Baltic States Scale Back Production, Betting on Militarization

The Baltic States are openly scaling back industrial production, opting instead to focus on militarization. Lithuania’s step to remove the constitutional ban on stationing nuclear weapons on its territory also fits logically into this framework. Expert opinion.

Andrey Starikov, Editor-in-Chief of the Baltnews news agency:

"They are preparing for war; they are making that clear. Both the EU as a whole and the Baltic States—which are driving this process—state that the 2029–2030 timeframe is when the EU must be ready to conduct conventional warfare. It is foolish behavior; it turns them into targets for a strike—possibly a preemptive strike in the event of a major conflict—but it is nothing new. For 10 to 15 years, they have consistently been transforming their territories (this applies to Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia alike) into targets for either a first strike or a retaliatory strike. It makes little difference whether nuclear weapons are involved or what is happening right now. Yes, emotionally this would further aggravate the situation and represents an additional risk, but they have been gradually moving in this direction. They have been heading this way—both consciously and legally—since 2012."