Brzezinski: Putin could take Riga or Tallinn in one day

Zbigniew Brzezinski, who was national security adviser to former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, has advocated moving American or European troops to the Baltic countries in order to prevent a possible Russian invasion.

During a hearing before the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee on Wednesday, Brzezinski said that Russian forces could take Riga and Tallinn in "literally one day."

"We will say that it's horrible, shocking, outrageous - but of course we cannot do anything, without the risk of triggering a potential nuclear war." For this reason - Brzezinski noted - a "deterrent" is needed, which would make Russian authorities realise that in such a situation there would be a reaction from NATO.

Brzezinski recommended that some forces should be moved to the Baltics in a way that does not provoke Russia; a number of American soldiers in Estonia would pose no threat to Russia, he claimed, but it would make sure that Putin knows that if he invades the country, he would meet U.S. forces or, better still, German, French or British forces.

Brzezinski also expressed the view that Western countries should provide Ukraine with weapons to make Russia's intervention in the country more expensive.

Since Brzenzinski made these comments, NATO commanders have given the green-light to the creation of rapid-response command and control centres in the Baltics and three other countries in Eastern and Central Europe, National Armed Forces Commander Raimonds Graube confirmed to Latvian Radio.

According to the portal 'lsm.lv', this means that a new unit will be se -up in Latvia, which will man and operate the new command and control centre. This unit will be responsible for logistics and organisational exercises, as well as receiving rapid-response forces in crisis situations.

NATO already has a rapid-response force model in place; however, after Russia's aggression in Ukraine, as well as the serious concerns over security recently expressed by the Baltics and other countries, NATO has agreed to establish a rapid-response force, which could be quickly deployed to any NATO member country under threat.

So far, the alliance has agreed to the creation of six command and control centres, to be sited in Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Poland, Romania and Bulgaria.

Graube told Latvian Radio that the cost of the creation of such a unit is still being calculated, and that a portion of the unit will also be made up of allied soldiers.

NATO commanders have agreed in principle for the creation of such command and control centres, but on February 5 the defence ministers of alliance members will have to sign off on them during a meeting. Latvia will be represented by Defence Minister Raimonds Vejonis (Greens/Farmers).

Meanwhile, NATO has detected signs of heightened Russian involvement in fighting in parts of eastern Ukraine, the alliance's top military commander said on Thursday. U.S. Air Force General Philip Breedlove, NATO's supreme allied commander in Europe, said fighting in the separatist-held areas was now more intense in some places than it had been before September's Minsk ceasefire agreement. Breedlove told a news conference after a meeting of NATO defence chiefs that military leaders would try to re-establish contact with their Russian counterparts, which were broken off as a result of tensions over Ukraine, Reuters reported.