Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania

This chapter examines Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania as subjects and objects of great power competition, especially since the end of the Cold War. It analyzes the central role of the European Union and NATO in securing Baltic sovereignty, political stability, and security against external threats, particularly from Russia. The chapter discusses the Baltics’ proactive efforts to decouple themselves from Russia in trade, energy, transport, and other sectors that could be weaponized for (geo)political purposes by Moscow. Baltic states’ support for sanctions targeting aggressive Russia and relatively large assistance to Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale war in 2022 demonstrate their resolve in maintaining the rules-based international system where borders are not altered by force and territorial integrity of sovereign states is respected. The chapter reveals how Russia, the USA, and major EU countries occasionally treat the Baltics as objects, bypassing them in high-level negotiations. The chapter demonstrates the dual nature of Baltic geopolitics: small states managing their structural vulnerabilities through the use of opportunities and resources provided by EU and NATO membership and increasingly contributing themselves to the common objectives of those alliances and shaping collective responses to the changing landscape of threats in Europe.