Impact of the Ukraine War on Security in the Baltic Region

With the outbreak of the Ukraine war in February 2022, the European security architecture has irrevocably broken down. For the three Baltic states that became independent from the Soviet Union, it has produced a major security dilemma and some would call an existential threat. Russia has mounted a hybrid war not only in Ukraine, but also in the Baltic region, thereby systematically undermining the security. At a structural level, it has laid bare that Russia is not averse to taking unprecedented risks and imposing huge costs on other countries. Although the war has not produced the result Moscow was anticipating, it has put the Baltic states on alert given their history and geopolitical proximity to Russia. The paper examines, the how the Ukraine war has impacted the European security with reference to the Baltic region by examining their new vulnerabilities and assessing the new security landscape, the centrality of NATO and EU to address the new threats.