Is Lithuania next on Putin’s hitlist?

For countries bordering Russia, Putin’s war on Ukraine raises a disturbing question: might they be next? A bill put forward to the Duma’s lower house on June 8 suggests Lithuania is in the country’s sights. If passed, the proposal by MP Evgeniy Fedorov could see Russia potentially try to lay claim to Lithuania’s territory.

Bonkers and alarming in equal measure, it seems that, not content with focussing on the war it started in Ukraine, some factions of the Russian government are already setting their sights further afield.

Harking back to the dying days of the USSR, Fedorov’s bill argues that the decision to recognise Lithuania’s independence in 1991 was made ‘illegally’ by president Mikhail Gorbachev because the committee that helped him decide was ‘unconstitutional’. The proposed bill goes on to state that, as Lithuania did not hold an independence referendum as the Soviet Union fell apart, it violated its law and ‘illegitimately’ became a republic.