Russia Seeking to Impose Its Laws on NATO States: ISW

Russia is seeking to impose its laws on member states of the NATO military alliance, according to a U.S.-based think tank.

The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) commented on Russian Prosecutor General Igor Krasnov’s recent remarks in its latest analysis of the conflict in Ukraine on Sunday.

Krasnov told VGTRK journalist Pavel Zarubin in an interview published on Telegram that Moscow “will continue to assert its right, contrary to international law, to enforce Russian federal law on officials of NATO and post-Soviet states for their actions taken within the territory of their own countries where Russian courts have no jurisdiction,” the ISW said.

Tensions between NATO member states and Russia are at a high amid the war in Ukraine. U.S. President Joe Biden warned in December that his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, would strike at NATO.

On March 12, the Russian leader issued an ominous nuclear warning to the West, saying that his country is technically ready for a nuclear war. Weeks earlier, he warned during his annual State of the Nation address that his “strategic nuclear forces are in a state of full readiness.”

“The Kremlin continues efforts to enforce Russian federal laws in post-Soviet countries where Russia has no legal jurisdiction,” the ISW said Sunday.

The think tank noted that multiple officials from NATO member states—for example, Estonian Minister of Internal Affairs Lauri Laanemets and Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas—have been placed by the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs on its wanted list for “allegedly breaking various Russian laws within their own counties.”

“ISW continues to assess that the Kremlin’s attempt to enforce its federal laws over NATO officials for actions in their own countries effectively denies the sovereignty of these states and are part of Russian efforts to set informational conditions justifying possible Russian escalations against NATO states in the future,” the think tank concluded.

Newsweek reached out to Russia’s Foreign Ministry for comment by email.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned in an interview with CBS News, published on March 28, that if Putin isn’t stopped, the conflict could break out on NATO soil.

Tensions between Moscow and the West soared after French President Emmanuel Macron suggested in late February that NATO members could send ground troops to Ukraine. He doubled down on that statement in March, saying that “we cannot exclude options” because “the security of Europe and the security of the French people is at stake here.”

Macron has said there are “no limits” to Paris’ support for Kyiv.

“Today, to have peace in Ukraine, we must not be weak,” Macron said in an interview on French national television TF1 and France 2 on March 14. “If war was to spread to Europe, it would be Russia’s sole choice and sole responsibility. But for us to decide today to be weak, to decide today that we would not respond, is being defeated already. And I don’t want that.”

He added: “If Russia wins this war, Europe’s credibility will be reduced to zero.”

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