The candidacies for membership of NATO from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania pose a strategic problem that transcends to a large extent the security concerns of these three States. Going ahead with such an enlargement despite Russia’s repeated hostility could easily jeopardize the already difficult relations that the Western countries have with Moscow. It would probably be preferable to leave these three republics in a situation of strategic ambiguity, while offering them a chance of closer ties with the European Union. The eventual objective would be for Russia to consider the Baltic States as stepping-stones to the single European market.

This content is published in French - Sécurité européenne et sécurité des Etats baltes : les vertus de l'ambiguïté stratégique