That's true, but question is - aren't there going to be fights for power after him among the group that rules Russia? Istn't it going to get messy?

And - what happens once Lukashenka dies? The guy is getting old already. This could be very interesting as well.

Your legendary Kaczynski who was KGB agent? )))

As for Baltic... Poor countries, no income, no population, economy destroyed by EU... I think Russia will move there ONLY as an answer to some provocation. And even then Donetsk scenario (with local rebels arising) will be more likely from my point of view. 

Well... 8-10 years ago when liberals was strong in Russian authorities system it could change the direction. 

But now - I have a feeling that group who headed by Putin now - is the soft version of what could come to power if he's gone. So if i'd be West I'll pray for his health. 

Lukashenko - hard to say. His son is too young to become a leader. So somebody from local KGB will come to power, don't worry. Of course, West will try to use its chance for another 'maidan' but it will fail. 

KGB agent, sure That's why he had to die in Russia...

Obviously it will be an answer to a provocation! It always is! A Russian provocation, obviously We all know the drill. "The Russian population in "State X" isn't safe, the goverment can't guarantee their safety, so Russia is forced to act -that is to invade and conquer the country, to secure peace" But we agree the "green men" scenario is more likely than a full-scale invasion, at least at the start. Russian soldiers without insignias pretending to be local rebels. That scenario is very likely, that's why I'm so shocked that OP feels so safe. If Clinton wins, I'd be shitting my pants in his spot

@Putin - I share that view. Putin is evil, but he's a known and somewhat predictable evil. There's no guarantee that should he die, a worst guy doesn't take over. That's why intelligent dictators shouldn't be killed *cough* Hussein *cough* Cadaffi *cough*

@Belarus - Lukashenka himself is trying to turn his country somewhat to the West. Obviously, their economy is tied too strongly with Russia to make it overnight, but he is drifting away. It's really exciting what will happen here in the upcoming 2-3 decades.

It's always fun to watch someone overestimate the importance of their country to an extreme extent I'm sure I do it too sometimes...

Let me tell you this: You lead nothing and you will lead nothing. I don't remember anyone reporting on what you guys have been doing EVER and we're right next to you. If you were important even a little bit, that would not be the case. Please, try to see your country a bit realistically, okay? You'd probably have trouble defeating us, let alone Russia

And for your information, annexing Crimea got Russia access to oil reserves worth trillions of US dollars and the territory they de facto gained from the war in Georgia gave them invaluable strategic access to the Black Sea - very important for maintaining their political and military influence in the region. Both very well calculated moves. Did you think they attacked just for fun? What does Poland have of interest to Russia? The only abundant resource I can think of is Catholic nuns

I want to clarify something to the brainwashed people - there is no discrimination in Baltics. Any russian who was born here and learned our language can get citizenship if the want it. And many of them do and then they go and vote for their russian party in elections. Why do you think the mayor of our capital Riga is a russian who by the way regularly shows disrespect to Latvia/Latvians? Who do you think voted for his party? I will give you a hint - it wasnt Latvians who voted for his party. Now you see how disinformed and brainwashed you were about the 'poor non-citizens' and their 'discrimination' and 'problems'? Its the Latvians you should feel sorry for for having to put up with unloyal russians and their politicians in our own country.

I'm sorry, but your ignorance changes nothing. And please read carefully what I'm saying. We're starting to step up, I didn't say we are already there. This was a huge change that took place last year, but will continue for years to come considering the condition of our political scene. In the past no country here meant a thing, since we were all ruled by Russia, but now Poland is finally shrugging off the remnants of that past and is starting to have its own goals and ambitions.

We look at the EU and what do we see? We are the 6th country when it comes to land/economy/population, but Spain and Italy are struggling bad and are still in a deep crisis, UK is on the verge of leaving the EU, France is in complete disarray and Germany is weakest it has been in decades because of their immigration madness. On the other hand, our economy is growing at a steady pace of around 3.8% per year and we're actively starting to unite the region and be more and more influencial. We see this as a great opportunity. Maybe you haven't noticed, but due to the immigrants, all smaller countries in the region (including yours) started flocking to us. It's natural that united we are stronger, but guess what - there is a centrepiece to this puzzle that makes all this possible. Obviously, other big countries (especially Germany) aren't happy about it and are trying to stop us, but so far we're doing fine These are the first steps, we are only starting this, but mark my words - in a decade or two you'll be laughing at what you've just written and you'll see what I mean. Rome wasn't built in a day, but we have a clear vision, we know what our goals are and our goverment is set to achieve it. Remember, Turkey meant nothing 30 years ago, China meant nothing 50 years ago. Things change, we are challenging the status quo and actually start seeing things fall in all the right places among the turmoil that's happening in Europe. We still need our economy to grow to become a real European heavyweight, but we are well aware of that and on a good track.

If you want more examples of what I'm talking about - in a few weeks there is the upcoming NATO summit. Yup, in Warsaw. Hmm... And oh! Poland and Britain will present a shared, unified statement there. We won't be saying the same thing (ie. two countries saying the same), but we will be there AS ONE. We have been preparing that and working for it for quite some time. I know it may mean nothing for you, you may laugh at all this, but there is very clear pattern in what we are doing and you may deny it all you want, it won't change a thing. We still need time and a lot of work, there are numerous potential threats along the way, but we are doing this.

A sidenote - have you heard of George Friedman? The founder and Chairman of Stratfor? He wrote a famous book called "The Next 100 Years" trying to predict the upcoming political events in the World. He predicts that in Europe Turkey and Poland will rise to become new powers. You may laugh, but years ago he predicted that "around 2015, a Polish-led military alliance of countries in Eastern Europe (V4+Romania) will begin to form", he calls it the "Polish Bloc". And guess what, 2015 comes, Polish government starts buliding up military, a few days ago a NATO base became fully operational in Romania and a new one is under construction in Poland... Just saying...

BTW. Friedman predicted that Russia would fall apart like USSR after years of upcoming economical sanctions, decreasing demography and with its outdated economy. To be fair, Russians seem to have at least got demography somewhat under control. The rest though - he's spot-on.

On the so called 'discrimination' in Latvia - it was always sound fishy to me tbh. And now even more. 25 years without USSR. Russians in Latvia could leave a country or adapt to its conditions. Those who stayed there, but didn't want to adapt to the new situation... Just looks strange.

You guys do have a crazy situation there. Russians opt not to have citizenship, cause this way they may enter Russia, Belarus and some other countries without a visa, while should they become Latvians, they'd need to apply and pay for a visa. And still, the Russian party wins all elections, just that they can never enter into a coalition Having over a quarter of your population be Russian is a huge problem if you ask me, that's why I'm so shocked you feel so secure. I'm happy there are next to no Russians in my country, one less problem. I don't envy you.