There are a few things to keep in mind when we talk about russian protection Putin does not necessarily need a lot of russians supporting him in targeted country . For example , in Ukraine they brought russian citizens on the buses from Russia because border between Russia and Ukraine were not well controlled at that time . Of course , it would be much harder to organize this in Baltic states , but they still can import ' provocateurs . I also remind you that these were not local ukrainians who started the war on the east it was GirkinStrelkov with his russian companions . So , he even does not need local russians who are ready to fight with guns to set up a fire . He also does not need any real causalities among russians there were 0 russians who died in Crimea during Maidan . These makes any country with significant russian minority vulnerable . Especially countries like Estonia and Latvia where russians are like muslims in other countries which don ' t want to integrate .