Lithuanian civilians fearing Russian attack train for worst
VILNIUS- Rasa Miskinyte spent last Saturday in a freezing forest near Lithuania's capital learning to gather water from a pond with a condom, to filter it through sand, charcoal and cloth, and to make her own stove from a beer can. She thought some basic survival skills would be helpful if Russian troops ever entered Vilnius and her family escaped into the woods.
"Russia is a very dangerous kind of neighbor," said Miskinyte, a 53-year-old film producer. "They are always aiming at us."
Across Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, fears are intensifying that Moscow, after displaying its military might in Georgia, Ukraine and now Syria, could have the Baltic states in its sights next. Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned he wouldn't hesitate to defend Russians wherever they live -- words that feel like threats since significant numbers of ethnic Russians live in the Baltics.
Whether the danger is real or just bluster remains to be seen. But in Lithuania, a country that experienced a Russian occupation before, some people aren't waiting to find out.
