Importance The research focuses on the military security issues of the Baltic region as the NATO infrastructure approximates the Russian borders. Objectives We evaluate the role of the Baltic States in the European security system, analyze the military and strategic situation in the Baltic region after the collapse of the USSR up to the present time. The article also investigates the NATO activities in the Baltic region from perspectives of threats to the military security of Russia and reviews Russia's capabilities to ensure and protect its interests in the Baltic region. Methods The research deploys the historic-logic and historic-comparative methods, specific political case methodology (situation analysis, event analysis, expert assessment method). Results Considering the Baltic region, we examine the military and strategic situation, NATO activities in terms of threats to the military security of Russia, and study Russia's capabilities to ensure and protect its interests. Conclusions and Relevance We examined and evaluated the role of the Baltic States in the European security system, military and strategic situation in the Baltic region, NATO activities there as a threat to the military security of Russia. We also consider Russia’s capabilities to ensure and protect its national interests in the Baltic region. Intensifying activities of NATO cannot but be regarded as a direct menace to the military security of Russia. The findings may be perused for general and special-purpose courses of political science and economics and prove useful to public and municipal administration authorities.
Keywords: military security, comprehensive security, military infrastructure, clash of civilizations, geopolitics
References:
Bremenskii A. Deyaniya arkhiepiskopov gamburgskoi tserkvi. V kn.: Nemetskie annaly i khroniki X–XI stoletii [Exploits of the Hamburg church archbishops. In: The German annals and chronicles of the 10th–11th centuries]. Moscow, Dmitry Pozharsky University Publ., 2012, pp. 297–449.
Vainshtein O.L. Zapadnoevropeiskaya srednevekovaya istoriografiya [The historiography of Western Europe in the Middle Ages]. Leningrad, Nauka Publ., 1964, 483 p.
Korneevets V.S. Mezhdunarodnaya regionalizatsiya na Baltike: monografiya [Global regionalism in the Baltic region: a monograph]. St. Petersburg, Saint Petersburg University Publ., 2010, 205 p.
Korneevets V.S. [The concept of the Baltic States and Baltic region]. Kosmopolis, 2008, no. 2, pp. 68–76. (In Russ.)
Korneevets V.S. Formirovanie transgranichnykh mezoregionov na Baltike [The formation of cross-border mesoregions in the Baltic region]. Kaliningrad, Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University Publ., 2010, 79 p.
Balto-slavyanskie issledovaniya. XIX. Sbornik nauchnykh trudov [Baltic and Slavic studies. Issue 19. Collection of proceedings]. St. Petersburg, Nestor-Istoriya Publ., 2014, 588 p.
Maciejewski W. The Baltic Sea Region: Cultures, Politics, Societies. Uppsala, Baltic University Press, 2002, 676 p.
Zhirkova S.V. [Role of the Baltic region in cooperation Russia-European Union]. Sotsial'no-ekonomicheskie yavleniya i protsessy = Social and Economic Phenomena and Processes, 2013, no. 6, pp. 87–91. URL: Link (In Russ.)
Kabuzan V.M. Formirovanie mnogonatsional'nogo naseleniya Pribaltiki (Estonii, Latvii, Litvy, Kaliningradskoi oblasti Rossii) v XIX–XX vv. (1795–2000 gg.) [The origination of the multinational population in the Baltic region (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Kaliningrad Oblast of Russia) in the 19th–20th centuries (1795–2000)]. Moscow, Institute of Russian History Publ., 2009, 151 p.
Vorotnikov V.V. Vneshnyaya politika gosudarstv Baltii v nachale XXI v [Foreign policy of the Baltic States at the beginning of the 21st century]. Moscow, Aspekt Press Publ., 2015, 271 p.
Eidintas A., Bumblauskas A., Kulakauskas A., Tamošaitis M. The History of Lithuania. Vilnius, Eugrimas, 2015, 328 p.
Schmidt T. Das politische System Lettlands. In: Die politischen Systeme Osteuropas. Wiesbaden, Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, 2004, pp. 111–151.
Leskinen M.V. Polyaki i finny v rossiiskoi nauke vtoroi poloviny XIX v.: “drugoi” skvoz' prizmu identichnosti [The Poles and Finns in the Russian science of the second half of the 19th century: ‘The other’ through the lens of identity]. Moscow, Indrik Publ., 2010, 368 p.
Knauer C. Dänemark: Ein Länderportrait. Berlin, Christian Link Verlag, 2017, 224 p.
