Putin’s threats are triggering a massive response across NATO’s eastern frontier. Latvia is deploying Dragon’s Teeth anti-tank barriers as part of the growing Baltic Defense Line, while Estonia and Lithuania strengthen their borders against potential Russian aggression. But concrete obstacles are only the beginning. NATO is reinforcing the region with powerful new military command structures designed to deter any future attack. Is the Baltic becoming Europe’s next frontline? Watch to find out how NATO is preparing for the worst.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Putin made the threats. The Baltic states are in Russia's sights as Putin rages about drones and
00:05NATO prepares for a future fight with Russia. Latvia is preparing. To defend itself against
00:11Russia, Latvia is erecting dragon's teeth all over its border. The jaws of the dragon are ready to
00:17snap shut. Putin's land forces aren't prepared for what the Baltic has in store for them.
00:23But it gets worse for Russia's leader. NATO is doing something even more massive on the Baltic
00:27borders that sends a clear message to Putin. Whatever you plan to do next, NATO is ready for
00:33you. Concrete is the counter to everything that Putin has in store. At least that's Latvia's
00:39approach, as it's erected dragon's teeth across its borders to serve as a dangerous anti-tank barrier
00:45to Russia's forces. These fortifications have become part of the much larger Baltic defense line that
00:50the Baltic states of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia agreed to erect, and the heavy row of pyramid-shaped
00:56dragon's teeth exist to show that Russia can't achieve the sort of fast breakthrough on the
01:01ground that would allow for a fast invasion of the Baltic territories. Latvia's LSM has the
01:07breakdown, as it notes that the dragon's teeth have been set up on land that Latvia's government
01:11expropriated for national defense purposes. Construction on the teeth began back in 2024,
01:17though the first rows of them weren't installed until a year later. Fast forward to May 28th,
01:22there are now dozens of dragon's teeth on Latvia's border, each arranged in three rows
01:27that stretch about 10 meters wide, with the gaps between them being so small that military vehicles
01:32from tanks to armored cars aren't able to drive between them. Latvia has been planning this for
01:38a while. The land that it expropriated hasn't just been snatched from its owners. A special commission
01:43has been created, with the sole job of determining how much compensation those landowners will receive
01:48for handing over their property in defense of their nation. This is solidarity in action,
01:53the recognition that Russia presents a huge problem that needs to be solved.
01:57And, as the head of the Narva border center, Antti Ansalu, points out, these new defenses are
02:02absolutely necessary. Speaking about Estonia's decision to do something similar in 2025, Ansalu said,
02:09This is primarily necessary to improve border crossing security. About five years ago,
02:14we had an incident where a vehicle from the Russian side breached the existing barriers.
02:18Installing barriers will help prevent unauthorized passage. Installing gates will also help better
02:22manage the situation on the bridge, for example, in the event of an influx of migrants. So these
02:27are all multi-purpose defenses. Plus, as we've just hinted, Latvia is far from the only Baltic state to
02:33erect concrete barriers along its borders. Latvia's new dragon's teeth join those that have been set
02:38up by both Estonia and Lithuania. Antti Ansalu's comments were made back in August 2025, as Estonia
02:44engaged in a campaign to build gates and barriers across the Narva bridge that connects Estonia to
02:49Russia. That bridge will be the main route that Putin's ground forces have to take if they want
02:54to cross the Narva River to pile into Estonia. And the defenses ensure that Estonia is able to
02:59completely control the flow of traffic into its country. Right now, that means stopping migrants
03:04that Russia is sending in their tracks. But in future, Estonia believes that these defenses could
03:09prove pivotal in stopping Russia's forces long enough for a NATO response to come and sweep Putin's
03:15marauding forces away. Lithuania did something similar, also in August 2025. That month saw the
03:22Baltic state complete the installation of dragon's teeth along its border with the Russian exclave of
03:26Kaliningrad. The commander of the Lithuanian army, Raimundas Vyksnoras, explained the move at the time,
03:32stating, we are starting from the tactical level, specific obstacles on the border, and later we
03:38combine the entire engineering plan into one conceptual system. Translation, the Baltic states
03:43are getting ready for a Russian attack from all sides. The dragon's teeth being erected now are just
03:48the first part of a wider cooperative defense plan designed to protect all three Baltic nations against
03:53Russia. Putin will be watching anxiously as he sees the Baltic states preparing for what he has planned.
03:59But there is something else that NATO has in store that will take Russia's leader from feeling anxious
04:04to leaving brown stains in his pants. Before we get to that, there's the issue of what Latvia's
04:09latest move means in the wider context of its defenses. Dragon's teeth aren't just for show,
04:14they're part of the Baltic defense line we mentioned earlier, which the Lieber Institute at West Point
04:19has labeled as a military necessity as Russia pushes its luck and pushes buttons with NATO.
04:24The Institute says that what's happening on NATO's eastern flank is part of the most
04:29strategically calibrated defensive preparation since the Cold War, as the dragon's teeth that
04:34the Baltic states have built will be combined with a series of bunkers, trenches, surveillance systems,
04:38and observation posts, all working in concert with a singular goal, delay Russia to buy time for
04:44Article 5 to be triggered so that NATO can send troops. The Baltic defense line amounts to a trio of
04:49layers, beginning with the types of anti-vehicle barriers that Latvia has just erected. They stop
04:54Russian tanks and armored vehicles in their tracks, and once stopped, those vehicles end up in the
04:58firing lines of anti-armor defenses that destroy them. Another layer of defense ends up being added
05:04with each Russian tank that burns. Each becomes a barrier in its own right, making it even harder
05:09for Putin's forces to break through. Speaking of fire, the second layer of the Baltic defense line
05:14combines a series of infantry bunkers in a trench system with command posts designed to
05:18coordinate the Baltic defense. Bunkers provide the perfect place from which to fire on the enemy,
05:23while trenches can also slow Russian armor down and create a nightmare for Putin's soldiers as
05:28they try to break through the Baltic borders on foot. And right at the rear of the line is the
05:32third layer of defenses, which combines ground sensors, observation towers, and reconnaissance
05:37drones that feed real-time data to NATO, allowing the collective defense organization to formulate an
05:42appropriate response. None of this is being done by accident. There is nothing haphazard about what
05:47Latvia and the other Baltic states are doing. In fact, every defensive measure being put in place
05:51today has been carefully planned and is a result of joint NATO operations that began long before
05:57Putin invaded Ukraine. Returning to the dragon's teeth, nobody is under any illusions that they
06:02alone can stop Russia's forces. That's not the point. The concrete contraptions aren't some new
06:07inventions that Russia's military planners have never seen before. They've actually been around
06:11since World War II, to the point where they were once seen as somewhat outdated when it comes to
06:15modern warfare. But then that description can also be applied to the military tactics that Putin has
06:21been employing in Ukraine. Russia's strategy is to force through a victory using an approach that is
06:25almost a century old. Tanks still play a huge role in how Russia fights, as does sending cannon fodder
06:31on foot that exists to absorb ammunition in order to wear down an opponent. If Russia is going to fight
06:36like
06:36it's still the 1940s, Latvia and the other Baltic states are going to erect defenses designed to
06:42deal with that approach. Tanks have to be stopped. Dragon's teeth are one of the best ways of keeping
06:47Russia's increasingly aging metal monstrosities at bay. And when combined with carefully placed
06:52minefields, which the national interest implies is part of the Lithuanian aspect of the Baltic
06:56defense line and may well end up being implemented across other Baltic borders, dragon's teeth can be one
07:01of the most important defensive assets for dealing with the 21st century Russian military that doesn't
07:06seem to have progressed from the glory days of World War II. However, there's a stark reality that
07:12Putin has to face. Dragon's teeth and border fortifications across the Baltic borders aren't
07:17the only things that are going to be lying in wait for the Russian forces if they ever attack.
07:21NATO has something much more dangerous in mind, a response so lethal that it will force Putin to
07:27rethink his entire Baltic strategy. That new response is a game changer on the eastern line.
07:32But before we dig into that, if this is the kind of insight you want to see, make sure you
07:36are
07:36subscribed to the military show. We break it down like this every single week.
07:40So the dragon has been unleashed, but as the dragon's jaws clamp shut on Putin's armor,
07:46Russia will have a lot more to worry about than the Baltic defense line. NATO troops are coming to the
07:51Baltic states in what may be the biggest sign yet that NATO is getting ready for war with Russia.
07:56Toward the end of May, Reuters broke the news that NATO is preparing to strengthen the eastern flank
08:01by assigning another army corps to the Baltic region. This isn't any old corps. It's the German
08:06Netherlands Corps, which was stationed in the western German region of Munster, but is now on
08:10its way to Estonia and Latvia to serve as a new layer in the defensive structure that NATO is building
08:15up to deter Putin. The German Netherlands Corps amounts to a serious military response to Putin's plans.
08:20Around 1,100 personnel serving the corps itself, which may not seem like a lot, especially when
08:25accounting for Russia's cannon fodder strategy. However, the corps is less about the amount of
08:30manpower it brings to the table and far more about the role it plays in organizing troops to deal with
08:34the threat. During an emergency, such as Russian forces attempting to cross into the Baltic states,
08:39the German Netherlands Corps can have up to 100,000 soldiers placed under its command.
08:44NATO hasn't sent a minor force here. It's sent an army corps capable of coordinating the sort of
08:49response that can send Putin's patsies packing. What this all means is that NATO is preparing to
08:54completely transform the way it organizes the eastern flank. Right now, NATO forces that are
08:59stationed in the Baltic states in northern Poland fall under the command of the Multinational Corps
09:03Northeast, which is stationed in Szczecin, Poland. That corps isn't going anywhere. It's existed in
09:08Poland ever since the nation became a NATO member, and it's a huge part of the command structure that
09:12NATO has created for the Baltic region, Estonian World reports. The German Netherlands Corps will add to
09:18the command structure that NATO has already created rather than replace it. The benefits are obvious.
09:23Responsibilities for organizing a response to Russian forces can now be divided between two
09:27cores, allowing NATO to collectively respond much quicker to a crisis in the Baltic region than it ever
09:33could before. Mass at speed is how one unnamed military official described it, and that's just what
09:39the Baltic states need if Russia's forces invade. All of this feeds into the overall strategy that NATO has
09:45created for the eastern flank. The Baltic defense line holds up Putin's forces. The Multinational
09:50Corps Northeast and the German Netherlands Corps combines to arrange the ground-based response.
09:55The German Netherlands Corps has plenty of experience too. Throughout the 2000s, it's been one of the
09:59most active arms of NATO. Deployments to Afghanistan in 2003, 2009, and 2013 mean that it has relatively
10:07recent warfighting experience, and the corps has also served as a standby component of the Land Component
10:12Command of the NATO Response Force, which is a task it fulfilled in 2005, 2008, 2015, and 2019.
10:19Whether it's dealing with humanitarian operations or organizing a rapid response in a warfighting
10:23scenario, the German Netherlands Corps is exactly what Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia need to make the
10:29entire concept of the Baltic defense line work. Corps is also the exact opposite of what Putin wants to
10:34see in the Baltic region. Russia's leader has just learned that if you keep making threats,
10:38you're going to get a response. There's a major reason why the Dragon is getting ready to clench
10:42its jaws and NATO is sending another army corps to the eastern flank, the immediate and constant
10:48Russian threat to the Baltic states. The timing of all these Baltic and NATO moves is far from
10:54coincidental, particularly when it comes to Latvia. On May 19, the Moscow Times revealed that Russian's
10:59Foreign Intelligence Service has claimed that Latvia is preparing to allow Ukraine to start launching
11:04drones from five military bases into Russian territory. Those bases, Russia claims, are Adazi,
11:10Silesia, Lilvada, Daugavpils, and Yakapils. Russia isn't happy about what it claims to have discovered.
11:16Latvia says that it's all a lie. But Russia claims that it has determined the locations of drone launch
11:21points in Latvia from coordinates of drone debris, and it has started to threaten retaliatory strikes
11:27against any nation that it claims is helping Ukraine to send drones into Russian territory. A supposed
11:33special warning has been delivered to the Baltic states, Russian Security Council Secretary Sergei
11:38Shoigu has claimed. As is so often the case, there is a measure of hypocrisy to what Russia is claiming.
11:43It was only in early May that a pair of drones crashed at an oil depot in Latvia,
11:47prompting the resignation of Latvia's entire cabinet, including Prime Minister Avika Selina
11:52and Defense Minister Andriš Spruz, amidst infighting over who was to blame. Russia claimed that the
11:58drones were Ukrainian, but Putin would have been rubbing his hands with glee when seeing so much
12:02infighting. The point here is that tensions are high between Russia and Latvia. A powder keg seems
12:08to be on the verge of igniting. Those tensions are only rising as a result of other actions that
12:13Russia has taken, which place Latvia and the other Baltic nations under immediate threat. On May 25th,
12:19Politico reported that the Baltic states are turning to Ukraine to help them create bomb shelters that
12:24could protect citizens against Russian drones and missiles. That move was prompted by a drone
12:29violating Lithuanian airspace a week prior, which resulted in residents of the city of Vilnius
12:34being encouraged to seek shelter as the country's President and Prime Minister were rushed into
12:38bunkers. Russia is becoming bolder with its drones and the Baltic states are increasingly worried that
12:43what are currently aerial incursions will evolve into a ground campaign. And they should be worried.
12:48Also in May, Putin put pen to paper on a new law that authorizes the use of Russian military forces
12:53to
12:54protect Russian citizens abroad. According to the Kyiv Independent, the new law sees Putin authorize
12:59himself to essentially declare war to protect any Russian citizen who faces arrest, trial, detention,
13:06or any other sort of supposed persecution by a foreign state. Let's call a spade a spade here.
13:11Russia has basically given itself permission to invade any country under false pretenses. The Kyiv
13:16Independent says there are about 40,000 Russian citizens in Latvia and more than 80,000 in Estonia.
13:22It doesn't take a genius to figure out what Putin is doing here. He's basically telling the Baltic
13:27states that any punishment doled out to these citizens for crimes that they might commit is
13:31grounds for an invasion. It doesn't matter if the punishment is justified. Russia is watching and
13:36waiting for an excuse and a new law means that Putin can give the go-ahead for a war whenever
13:41he feels
13:41like it. NATO is doing something massive on its eastern flank because May has been the month when Russia
13:46signaled that it's intending to push things too far. But for the Baltic states, this is a reality that has
13:51been developing for some time. Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia all know that they will be first in
13:57the firing line if Putin decides that he wants to extend the war in Ukraine into a war against NATO.
14:02When that war comes in 10 years, 5 years, or even in the coming months, the Baltic states have to
14:07do
14:07everything in their power to Putin prove themselves. The rhetoric is being ramped up now, but the hybrid
14:12war has been going on for years. For example, Russian guards have been removing buoys in the Narva River
14:18that demarcate the border between Russia and Estonia since 2024. Russia is encroaching on the
14:23sovereignty of the Baltic states indirectly, and it seems to be gearing up to take a more direct
14:28approach in the near future. The Baltic states know that they are vulnerable. In April, Defense News
14:33reported that a study drafted by the Baltic Defense Initiative, which is a think tank based in Lithuania,
14:39suggested that Russia could overrun the Baltic states in just 90 days, especially if Russia follows the
14:44template of aerial bombardment created by the US in Iran during Operation Epic Fury.
14:49That doom and gloom scenario does make several interesting assumptions, including France withdrawing
14:55its nuclear umbrella from the Baltic states. Still, it's a worrying analysis and a wake-up call to the
14:59Baltic states and NATO. Something has to be done about the Putin problem. If Russia's leader succeeds in
15:06Ukraine, NATO's eastern flank may be next. NATO needs to wake up to this threat, and it needs to do
15:12it
15:12quickly. That's what we're seeing in Latvia right now, with the deployment of Dragon's Teeth,
15:16and it's what we're seeing with NATO's decision to send the German Netherlands Corps to the Baltic
15:20region. Defenses are being put in place. One of the most effective rapid response units that NATO
15:25has at its disposal is now heading to the Baltic. If Russia does attack, Putin won't have the easy
15:30ride that he thinks he'll have. The Baltic defense line stands ready. And it's going to keep getting
15:35stronger to ensure that nothing that Putin has planned will come to pass. Not that Putin is quite ready to
15:41start a war with NATO yet. He has plenty of problems with Ukraine to handle first, as well as a
15:45threat
15:45of his own to deal with in Russia's east. In the ultimate irony, Russia is losing ground in its east
15:51as it prepares to attack NATO's east, and that ground is being lost not to an enemy, but to a
15:56supposed ally. The Russian Far East covers 40% of the nation's territory, but the population is
16:01collapsing at an alarming rate. China is taking advantage, and you can find out how by watching our video.
16:07And if you enjoyed this video, remember to subscribe to The Military Show so you don't
16:11miss any of our analysis of the latest developments in the Baltic theater. And thank you for watching.