If a [Ukrainian] scenario were to play out in Latvia or Estonia, said Eugene Rumer, national intelligence officer, with violent protests led by a Russian population that has lived in those countries for generations, “it’s not at all clear to me what NATO is going to do.” “Putin thinks NATO is a hollow alliance. That it talks a lot but it doesn’t walk the walk,” Rumer said. “And he’s perfectly happy to poke NATO in the eye or whatever part of its anatomy, and say, ‘Okay, I’m going to start trouble in the Baltics, and what are you going to do about it?’ ”

Putin this month announced new pensions for Soviet-era veterans living in the Baltics, a move that affects Latvia and Estonia, where Russian speakers respectively make up roughly a third and a quarter of the populations. Russian diplomats in those countries have stepped up efforts to distribute Russian passports to ethnic Russians, and Latvian officials say they have seen heightened activity in recent weeks among anti-government, pro-Russian protesters.

Russians in Latvia have long complained of laws that require schools to teach in Latvian and that also require knowledge of the language to become a naturalized citizen.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/russian-president-putin-builds-ties-in-moldova-kazakhstan-and-baltics/2014/05/17/fa1beb22-c45f-4027-9b30-cc45212c785e_story.html?tid=pm_world_pop