After Ukraine, the next targets of the Kremlin could be Moldova and the Baltic countries, warned the commander of the Belgian armed forces, Michel Hofman, according to Politico.
“Russia has already shown the will to attack a neighbor,” Admiral Hofman declared to the Belgian news channel VRT while visiting Belgian soldiers stationed in Romania. The language of Russian President Vladimir Putin “is always ambiguous. It is absolutely possible that they may have other ideas later on, either in the south, in Moldova, or in the Baltic states,” he said.
“Europe needs to urgently prepare and show clearly that it can defend itself” and that “it will counterattack if necessary,” said Hofman, the head of the Belgian armed forces.
Ukraine rejected Putin’s large-scale invasion, which began in February 2022 and shows no signs of diminishing despite the fierce resistance of Kiev’s forces.
“Russia has shifted to a war industry. Even if Moscow’s forces seem weakened at the moment due to the war against Ukraine, this weakness is temporary. If Russia wins the war, it will rebuild its armed forces,” warned the head of the Belgian army.
Moldova shares a border with Ukraine, and one of the country’s regions—the Transnistrian region—is supported by the Kremlin. Transnistria is not recognized by any country in the world. The territory declared its “independence” in 1991, followed by the armed conflict in 1992, which killed several thousand people. Moldova has not recognized the secession of the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic (PMR). Relations between Moldova and Transnistria, where the 14th army is still stationed today, remain unresolved.
To the west of the Kremlin, the Baltic countries are protected by NATO’s common defense clause, and an attack by Putin’s troops on Estonia, Latvia, or Lithuania could trigger a broader conflict.