(LONDON) — On NATO’s eastern edge, leaders of the Baltic nations have long considered themselves more awake to the threat from Moscow than their allies to the west, a collective memory of Russian and Soviet occupation seared into their national narratives.

“We know that Russia is going to move forward,” Lithuanian Defense Minister Dovile Sakaliene told ABC News during her visit to Kyiv last weekend. “We in Lithuania, we remember very well. So, that means that we have to prepare ourselves.”

“This terrible threat is also an opportunity for us to grow the muscle where we need it to be,” Sakaliene added.

Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine from February 2022 served as vindication for NATO’s eastern-most nations, who for years had been warning their Western allies that Moscow could not b

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