Former CIA director David Petraeus warned that Russia will invade a NATO country if it succeeds in Ukraine, Daily Mail reported on 29 May.
Lithuania would be the most likely target, according to Petraeus.
European intelligence agencies have consistently warned that Russia poses a real and growing threat of military aggression against NATO countries. The German intelligence service (BND) has cautioned that Russia could develop the capability for large-scale conventional warfare against NATO by the end of this decade, and already possesses resources for limited military actions against member states.
Russia’s next target after Ukraine
Speaking at Policy Exchange in London, Petraeus warned Russia could test Western resolve through a Lithuanian incursion.
“Once that’s done, you are going to see them focus on one of the Baltic states,” Petraeus said. “Lithuania has featured prominently in his speeches and we should have listened a lot more.”
The former general said Russia wants to topple President Zelenskyy and “install a puppet leader and to control all of Ukraine.”
Russia has suffered nearly a million battlefield casualties including 500,000 killed or unfit for duty. Petraeus called the losses “unimaginable.”
US policy criticized
Petraeus criticized delayed weapons deliveries: “The US also temporised far too long over individual decisions such as M1 tanks. A blind man on a dark night could see it had to be the F-16.”
Trump’s envoy Keith Kellogg said Ukraine NATO membership is “not on the table” and called Russian expansion concerns “fair.”