The Russian regime may start looking for its next victim.
"Latvia can no longer be viewed the same way it was ten years ago, when it might have seemed like an easy target. The country has significantly strengthened its military capabilities, developed cooperation with allies, and improved its defense plans," said Major General Kaspars Pudans, commander of the National Armed Forces (NAF), during an interview on Latvian Radio's 'Boulevard of Freedom'.
In an interview with Latvian Radio, General Pudans did not rule out that under certain circumstances, "Russia may start looking for its next victim," and Latvia could very well be on that list.
"If we can together make them [the Kremlin] reconsider their ability to continue the war in Ukraine, and they come up with some arguments to protect their regime from the questions of the Russian people and internal unrest about why they have been doing this for four years, and if Russia does make concessions — pulling some of their forces back, then my concern is that, knowing that regime, to calm their people and show that everything continues, as well as to continue supporting their military industry, this Russian regime may look for its next victim, and it is clear that geographically and historically we are that one direction to look at," believes the commander of the National Armed Forces. However, he is confident that Latvia is now a tough nut for Russia.
"I would say that we can no longer be viewed the way we might have appeared ten years ago, when we might have seemed like an easy target.
Now it is impossible to do so. We have built our military capabilities, developed cooperation with allies who are here, we have much more specifically developed and trained our plans, and we know what we can do.
Certainly, we still have room for development, but against the forces that Russia could currently direct at us — if they decided to do so, we could fight," said the general.
Assessing the situation in Ukraine, General Pudans compared the situation on the front to "some extent with the tactics of the First World War. The only difference is that instead of artillery, drones are now firing at each other, but the forces themselves are still sitting in their bunkers, in their trenches. This is what both sides do not want. One side wants to regain its territories, its independence, while the other wants to occupy additional territories."
