The Russians were afraid of the Lithuanians? The Latvians? The Estonians?
No, Russsians are afraid of the West, as symbolized by NATO.
What were the Russians supposed to do in response to Western Nations surrounding Russians with their weaponry?
Were they expected to accept their eventual genocide by the West, where many people in the West would have been celebratory over the idea of 143 million Russians being extinguished, just to show the superiority of the West?
I personally view the West as being taken over by an evil spirit, who convinced Westerners that ever evil act is justifiable because the West is holy and sits next to God’s throne no matter what the West does.
“The Russians were afraid of the Lithuanians? The Latvians? The Estonians? “
No. The Russians were afraid of US/UK military and CIA/MI6 stations in those countries.