The former CIA Director said Vladimir Putin’s ultimate aim was not just holding four partially occupied Ukrainian provinces and annexed Crimea – but toppling President Volodymyr Zelensky and seizing control of the entire country.
A top general thinks Putin is eyeing up another battlefront(Image: Getty Images)
Russian President Vladimir Putin may set his sights on Lithuania after accomplishing his objectives in Ukraine, warned General David Petraeus, also criticising Western delays in providing essential military assistance.
The ex-CIA chief stated that Putin’s ambition stretches beyond the four partially held Ukrainian provinces and Crimea, aiming to dethrone President Volodymyr Zelensky and claim dominion over all of Ukraine.
During a Policy Exchange webinar, the military chief said: “They still want to control not just all four of these provinces and Crimea. They want to topple Volodymr Zelensky and replace him with a Russian puppet so they control all of Ukraine.”
Lithuania’s border with Kaliningrad could be a target(Image: Lithuanian Defence Ministry)
Petraeus also cautioned that Putin could then target the Baltic States, with Lithuania being a likely candidate due to its prominence in Putin’s addresses, suggesting that the West should pay heed.
This statement references Putin’s notorious framing of the USSR’s dissolution as “the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century” – an assertion which Petraeus interpreted as a blatant indicator of the Kremlin’s long-term agenda.
He further remarked: “We should have listened a lot more when he answered that question…That gives you an insight into his grievance-filled, revanchist, revisionist history.”
Gen Petraeus, the former head of coalition forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, has voiced his opinion that NATO and EU allies showed solid determination during the initial stages of Russia’s extensive invasion but then compromised these efforts with slow and inconsistent arms deliveries.
He remarked: “There’s still a long way to go. We should have done so much for the Ukrainians that they could change the dynamic on the battlefield to one that shows Moscow they cannot achieve additional gains at acceptable cost.”
Russia continues its attacks on Kyiv but experts think they’re looking elsewhere(Image: State Emergency Service of Ukrai)
Petraeus spoke out against the aggravating delays in providing equipment such as F-16 jets, rocket systems and long-distance missiles, praising the Biden administration’s initial mobilisation but criticising its subsequent lack of swift action.
“Each time Ukraine would ask for it, they’d be told no, then maybe, and then eventually they’d get it,” he stated. “Instead of the kind of swift and decisive action that would have been so much more helpful.”
His statements emerge as concerns increase regarding the potential risks facing Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania – all neighbours to Russia or Belarus and NATO members. Military strategists are apprehensive that due to their diminutive size and geographical position, these states could be susceptible to destabilisation, subversion, or even aggression by Putin as a test of NATO’s resolve.
Lithuania has been pegged as a potential hot spot due to its staunch backing of Ukraine, cutting energy ties with Russia, and holding keys to the crucial Suwalki Gap – the corridor that could leave Russia’s Kaliningrad cut off from Belarus.
Despite desperate pleas from Baltic leaders like Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas and Latvian Defence Minister Andris Spruds, NATO has mostly beefed up its presence for intimidation rather than going all-in on defending the region with full-scale forces.
Despite peace talks, Russia continues its offensive against Ukraine(Image: AP)
Gen Petraeus’s stark warning about Lithuania is part of a bigger narrative around Mr Putin’s drive to claw back former Soviet turf. From the 2008 scuffles in Georgia, swiping Crimea in 2014, to the full-blown invasion of Ukraine just last year, the Kremlin has consistently painted its actions with a brush of historical beefs and western boogeyman threats.
Back in his 2005 national address, Mr Putin mourned the USSR’s demise as a “tragedy for the Russian people,” bemoaning the fate of millions stranded “outside the Russian Federation.”
The remarks were seen as a clear hint at his longing to settle scores from the Cold War’s finale, reports the Express.
Dishing on a chat he had with Putin, Gen Petraeus shared: “You could have chosen World War One, World War Two, the Great Depression – any others. And his response was the dissolution of the Soviet Union.”
That perspective continues to be the ideological catalyst behind the conflict in Ukraine – and poses the most significant long-term risk to Europe’s security, emphasised Gen Petraeus.
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