When Moscow accuses, the Baltic states no longer stay quiet. Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia sent a joint message to the Russian Foreign Ministry, rejecting Russian claims that they are helping Ukrainian forces attack Russian territory. The message is blunt: "We have not opened our airspace for any attacks on targets in Russia."

The trigger was a statement on July 4 by Russian deputy foreign minister Mikhail Galuzin, who claimed that the Baltic countries provide air corridors to the Ukrainian armed forces and that drones fly toward Russia from the Baltic region. The three countries didn't just deny it - they accused Moscow of "continuing to spread false information and escalate tensions."

This is a pattern the Balkans recognize well. A great power throws out an accusation without proof, and the small state has to spend energy proving that something didn't happen - while the accusation has already done its job, planting doubt. Lithuania had already sent a note of protest after Galuzin's statements. When you're forced to keep denying, you're on the defensive, and that's exactly the point.

Small states on the border of a great power live in a constant state of caution - every drone, every statement, every accusation can grow into something bigger. The Baltic countries chose not to stay silent, but to respond loudly and together. Whether that's enough to defend yourself against a neighbor who writes his own rules, history will tell. But silence, as we've learned too, has never been protection.