What Next for Russia’s Front-Line States?
Mr Keir Giles
Letort Paper by US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute, US Army War College Press
"The Strategic Studies Institute (SSI) considers that this Letort Paper provides a useful assessment of the continuities and changes in the foreign policy posture of Russia’s front-line states following Russia’s intervention in Ukraine in 2014. As a British scholar on Russia, Keir Giles explains that Moscow already voiced its opposition when the Baltic States accessed the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in 2004, and the color revolutions presented a democratization model on Russia’s doorstep. However, at that time, Russia did not possess the confidence or the capability to counter what it perceived as Western expansionism by using direct military action."