Putin (Image: Getty)
The US is worried that Russia’s repeated threatening of the Baltic states could see new turmoil embroiling NATO states in Europe.
This comes as Moscow is regularly – and falsely – accusing Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania of facilitating drone strikes on Vladimir Putin’s key oil ports.
There are fears Moscow is seeking to open a new front against the West, a move that could potentially trigger WW3.
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“We understand these countries feel threatened by it, obviously, for obvious reasons,” said US secretary of state Marco Rubio.
“So, it’s a concerning thing, because you always worry that something like that can spark into something bigger, and that’s always a possibility.”
He warned of a “fear of escalation”, saying Washington was closely monitoring the spiralling tension.
Nordic and Baltic states united to reject Russia’s “blatant disinformation campaign and false claims,” after Moscow alleged that Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania were allowing Ukraine to use their territory or airspace for attacks on Kremlin territory.
“The Nordic-Baltic countries have never allowed their territory or airspace to be used for these attacks against targets in Russia,” said the foreign ministers of the NB8 states, which includes Sweden, Finland, Norway, Iceland, Denmark, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
They accused Putin of seeking “to divert attention” from Russia’s “illegal war” and to “intimidate NATO Allies.
“This will not succeed and must stop immediately.”
Ukraine is against staged punishing attacks against military-linked sites in Russia, including oil refineries used to fund Putin’s war.
In Black Sea naval port Novorossiysk, the Grushovaya oil terminal, a subsidiary of Transneft, the largest oil storage facility in the Caucasus, was ablaze.
It has a total capacity of about 1.2 million tons of petroleum products.
Smoke was also rising from the Shesharis oil loading terminal on the Novorossiysk coast.
In a long-distance strike, Ukraine also hit Perm in the Urals, a distance of 1,000-plus miles.
The Metafrax chemical plant, supplying hexamine and pentaerythritol, used for explosives and weapons production, was on fire.
There was also a strike on Glazov, in the Udmurtia region, also 1,000 miles from Ukrainian-held land.
