ABSTRACT
Russia's aggression and provocations in Northern Europe are certainly not new; rather, they are now occurring more regularly and at a higher provocation scale than at any time since the end of the Cold War. Vladimir Putin's underlying goal seems to be reestablishing a Russian Empire by annexing territories that until 1991 were part of the empire of the Soviet Union. The increase in severity began in 2009, when Russia conducted simulated military attacks against the Baltic states and Poland. In 1996, the Baltic and Nordic countries with Russia and the United States formed a new organization, the Atlantic Council, for the purpose of resolving economic, political, security and ocean shipping issues in the Arctic Ocean before those issues led to hostilities. The tactical implementation of this policy began with gradual encirclement of smaller states, achieved by intimidation in a variety of forms such as energy dependence, economic warfare and riotous clashes by ethnic Russian minorities.
