Pentagon urges Baltic NATO allies to tone down rhetoric about Russia, citing remarks likening Putin to a ‘rat in a corner’

Pentagon officials urged several NATO member countries to tone down their rhetoric about the Russian threat during bilateral meetings, according to Reuters sources.The requests went to Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia, among others, the agency’s sources said. It is unclear whether other countries received similar requests.Elbridge Colby, head of the Pentagon’s policy directorate, was one of the officials who conveyed the requests. He cited public statements by Europeans describing Russia as “cornered like a rat” as an example of inappropriate rhetoric.It is unclear which statement he meant, but in late September, Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal called Putin a “rat in a corner” and suggested that Russia is resorting to sabotage in Europe because it is increasingly bogged down in the war with Ukraine, Reuters said.At another recent meeting, the Pentagon urged the Estonian delegation to be “measured” in its public statements, according to a source. It was not specified whether Pentagon officials objected to any particular statement.Colby also recently told a representative of one of the Baltic countries that there should be no “poking” at Russia, according to another source.The Baltic countries that border Russia have long worried about the Russian threat, particularly because of drones that regularly cross into their territory. European countries also accuse Russia of a series of sabotage acts. One of the most recent incidents occurred in Germany, where a drone carrying explosives was found at Leipzig Airport near a Ukrainian cargo plane.Putin, for his part, claims Moscow does not want war with Europe and has no plans to attack NATO countries, but says it is prepared for one.At Meduza, we are committed to transparency about our use of artificial intelligence in the newsroom. The story you’re reading was written by one of our living, breathing journalists and translated from Russian using an AI model configured to follow our strict editorial standards. This translation process is the result of extensive testing and refinements to ensure our English-language coverage is timely and accurate. A Meduza editor reviews every draft before publication.If you find any errors in this translation, please contact us at [email protected].To read Meduza’s exclusive content in English, please subscribe to our newsletter.