Here we have the “Major Escalation” as being from one’s point of view. For the Poles, I believe that it can be seen as a potential major affect. Read this leading paragraph and from being a Pole, whom remembers the slaughter of its leading academics, politicians, and officer corps by the Soviet at the Kaytn Forest: “The warning comes amid soaring tensions with the Nato-member country after Moscow claimed it has removed a Polish flag from a memorial site commemorating the killing of thousands of Poles in the Soviet Union.”
The Poles will see it as a major insult and a warning/provocation by Putin to NOT have any thought of backing Ukraine.
The major point of contention is whether or not the Russians have the strength and capability to launch an invasion of Lithuania and/or Poland. And whether or not the Putin’s allied Belorus president & government will aid Putin in such an attack.
Thank you for the ping.