In an interview with Swedish national television, SVT, Russian political scientist and “personal advisor” to Vladimir Putin, Sergey Markov, has said that while Sweden is safe, the Baltic States have every “reason to fear” Russia. Markov also delivered an ominous warning, that if a wider regional conflict should erupt, “it is possible that there will not be anything left of these countries.”
After Vladimir Putin’s annexation of Crimea, the Baltic States have becoming increasingly concerned about their own security and sovereignty. Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite has said that she would defend her country with her bare hands in the event of a Russian attack.
Markov is a close Putin adviser and has been widely cited as being the organizer of the 2007 cyber attacks against Estonia. In a June 2014 Svenska Dagbladet interview, Markov said that if Sweden and Finland joined NATO, it could trigger World War III. A vocal anti-gay rights campaigner, Markov has also claimed that Pussy Riot is “part of the global conspiracy against Russia and the Russian Orthodox Church.”
Interview in Swedish from SVT.se
