Putin is Pushing Europe Towards a New Pearl Harbor - Former Lithuanian Foreign Minister 0 19

Landsbergis warned that NATO is "inactive" in response to Russian provocations, allowing Putin to draw the West into a full-scale conflict.

"Are we accepting the reality that we may already be at war, or do we still believe we control the situation? We are allowing for increasing escalation without providing adequate responses. If this continues, Europe will face a Pearl Harbor day, when the escalation will be so impossible to ignore that it will lead to the awakening of the West," he emphasized.

Landsbergis fears that further clashes could lead to the invocation of Article 5 of the NATO Charter. Then, he said, "it will be too late" — the Western alliance will be at war with Russia.

"In 2022, I argued that NATO should have responded, but here we are again. There is a clear escalation, and we are still doing nothing," he noted.

NATO officials and analysts warn that Russia's tactics of using drones are aimed at testing the alliance's resolve — where its "red lines" are and how far they can go.

Landsbergis pointed out that this is why Russia is probing the ground:

"Now Putin understands that 20 drones entering Poland fall under Article 4, while 12 minutes in Estonian airspace still do not fall under Article 5. He will continue to push this line."

At the same time, he condemned NATO's reluctance to establish clear "red lines," emphasizing that this is now about "strategic communication, not strategic actions."

He noted that there are several ways to ensure compliance with the "red line," including informing Russia that in the event of another violation of NATO airspace, Ukraine will receive German Taurus missiles or American Tomahawks to destroy the drone launch sites.

Landsbergis views NATO's apparent passivity as a "constantly repeating geopolitical Groundhog Day": "Instead of asking whether we risk starting World War III, we ask ourselves: do we risk stopping it?"