European Affairs Perspectives: Cascading Consequences of Russia’s Conquest of Crimea

http://www.europeaninstitute.org/index.php/244-european-affairs/ea-november-2014/1975-perspectives-cascading-consequences-of-russia-s-conquest-of-crimea

European Affairs

Perspectives: Cascading Consequences of Russia’s Conquest of Crimea     

By John Barry, Former Defense and National Security Correspondent for Newsweek

Russia’s economy is cratering.  An SAS flight from Copenhagen to Poznan in Poland has suddenly to change course to avoid collision with a Russian surveillance aircraft roaming the crowded air-lanes of the southern Baltic with its identifying beacon switched off.  A flight from Finland had a similar near-miss two days earlier.  A third near-disaster came last spring, averted only by the skill of SAS pilots.  Tiny Lithuania (pop three million) is training and equipping 2,500 of its military of 8,000 as a ‘rapid-reaction force’ to respond swiftly to any incursion into its territory.
What connects these recent events?  Answer: Russia’s increasingly embattled President Vladimir Putin.