AN Influential US think tank is warning that NATO could be routed by invading Russians within hours.
In a series of war games carried out by the RAND Corporation, the nature and outcome of a Russian invasion of the Baltic states was explored.
And the results were chilling and make for depressing reading for the West.
Within 60 hours – maybe less – Russian tanks and troops could have stormed and taken over the capitals of Estonia and Lithuania.
The shocking report states: “As currently postured, NATO cannot successfully defend the territory of its most exposed members.
“Across multiple games using a wide range of expert participants in and out of uniform playing both sides, the longest it has taken Russian forces to reach the outskirts of the Estonian and/or Latvian capitals of Tallinn and Riga, respectively, is 60 hours.
“Such a rapid defeat would leave NATO with a limited number of options, all bad.”
One would be a bloody counteroffensive, fraught with risking nuclear war, to liberate the Baltic nations.
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The report concludes Russia could be stopped from invading the Baltic States.
But only if a force of about seven brigades, including three heavy armoured brigades — adequately supported by air-power, land-based fire —were ready to fight.
Yet so far there is no sign of such a large commitment from NATO members or any appetite for a war with Russia.
The report comes amid fears that President Vladimir Putin really could be plotting to invade the Baltic states – which broke away from Russia when the Soviet Union collapsed in the early 1990s.
Former NATO boss General Sir Richard Shirreff predicts a conflict could begin as soon as 2017 and has written a gripping fictional account of what it would be like called War with Russia.
He said: “I have shown how the political and military decisions we are currently making, and have already been made, are now propelling us into a future war with Russia.
“However, this is a way that could be avoided, if we act right now.”
After Russia snatched Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland have been boosting their armed forces and begging for NATO to beef up its presence to counter an invasion threat.
Britain is sending the biggest troop deployment on the Russian border since the Cold War amid fears Russia is poised to attack.
Hundreds of UK troops plus tanks, jets and drones are being sent to Eastern Europe to combat the rise of Russia, it was confirmed this week.
NATO confirmed that it would send 4,000 troops to the region next year.
Meanwhile Putin has deployed stealthy warships and subs to the Baltic Sea carrying nuclear-capable missiles with BRITAIN in their sights.
Two Buyan-M Corvettes are travelling to the Russian territory of Kaliningrad north of Poland — which is just 880 miles from London and well in range.
Earlier this week the Russian fleet that passed through the English Channel on its way to bomb Syria.
Led by rust-bucket aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov, the task-force had planned to stopover for fuel at a Spanish port just 20 miles from the British territory.