Urgent Warning: This is part of Putin's strategy; Europe is slipping toward a catastrophic conflict

Landsbergis, who stepped down from his post in November, criticized NATO for its lack of response to increasingly frequent Russian provocations — including fighter jet incursions and swarms of drones over alliance territory.

A series of incidents, such as the violation of Estonian airspace by Russian MiG-31 fighter jets and drone intrusions over Poland, has raised concerns among European leaders.

These actions, according to Landsbergis, are part of the Kremlin’s “shadow war” strategy — a campaign aimed at testing NATO’s resolve and probing the limits of its red lines.

The drone incursions into Poland triggered Article 4 of the NATO treaty, which calls for urgent consultations among members, while NATO aircraft were forced to intervene in what became the first direct military engagement with Moscow, The Telegraph reported.

“Do we accept the reality that we might already be at war, or do we still believe we’re in control?” Landsbergis asked in a statement to the media.

“Allowing escalation to continue without a proper response brings us closer to the day when the situation becomes so obvious that it finally wakes up the West — but perhaps too late,” said Landsbergis, whose country, located on NATO’s eastern flank, has been acutely vulnerable to Russian threats since the 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

He also accused NATO of lacking strategic resolve.

In a sarcastic post on X, the former minister wrote: “It’s comforting to think that when the first shots of World War III are fired, we’ll at least be able to say we did everything we could to protect Russian money.”

His remark targeted the West’s hesitation to confiscate frozen Russian assets to support Ukraine.

Landsbergis argued that terms such as “hybrid war” or “gray zone” downplay the severity of the situation.

“These are military operations with clear objectives, part of a broader strategy against the West,” he said, urging a stronger and more decisive response.

He also warned that continued Russian provocations could risk triggering Article 5 of the NATO treaty — which treats an attack on one member as an attack on all.

“If it comes to that, it will already be too late,” he cautioned, stressing that such a development would mean a direct war with Russia.

Landsbergis added that the alliance lacks clearly defined red lines.

He proposed that NATO should publicly warn Moscow that further violations could lead to the delivery of long-range weapons — such as Germany’s Taurus missiles or American Tomahawks — to Ukraine, allowing Kyiv to strike Russian military targets.

“Instead of asking whether we’ll start World War III, we should be asking whether we’ll stop it,” Landsbergis concluded.