“In Europe, they listen to the Baltics, but in America, they are so arrogant that they don’t listen,” Pavilionis said.On top of its all-out war in Ukraine, Russia has recently driven up tensions around the NATO-allied Baltic states — Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania — as well as nearby Finland and Sweden, raising concerns about its intentions in the area. Over the past year, Russia has made several moves in the Baltic Sea area, including GPS jamming, removing boundary markers in the Narva River that separates Russia and Estonia, and a brief attempt to change the maritime border between Lithuania and Finland. Earlier in May, Micael Byden, the commander of the Swedish Armed Service, the military protecting NATO’s newest member, also warned that the Kremlin may be seeking dominance over the Baltic Sea and has his eye on Sweden’s island of Gotland.A lot has changed since the time leading up to 2014 when Russia launched its aggression against Ukraine, and when Baltic state officials say their warnings of larger Russian threats on the Trans-Atlantic community often went ignored.