The rhetoric between NATO and Moscow has climbed another rung - and this time the words came from the top of the German air force. The commander, Lieutenant General Holger Neumann, said in an interview with a British outlet that in the event of a Russian attack on the Alliance, the targets would be strategic points deep inside Russia: St. Petersburg, Kaliningrad, the Kola Peninsula, and the Black Sea region.

„If it comes to a conflict, which I hope will never happen, we will defend every centimeter of our territory," Neumann said, adding that for NATO there are no zones with different levels of security - „NATO is NATO down to the last centimeter." Asked about readiness, the answer was even blunter: „To be ready for tonight means - if someone calls me now with a situation like that, we have to be ready now. And we are ready."

The message he wants to send is that the Alliance will draw no distinction between an attack on a small member like Estonia and a large one like Britain - a strike on any one means a response from all. It sounds like a firm guarantee for the Baltic allies. But when a general publicly lists Russian cities as targets, the question isn't whether the words are brave, but how much they're worth if someone takes them literally.

For the Balkans, statements like this aren't distant noise. The region remembers all too well what it means when great powers flex their muscles across other people's territories and words. Every escalation in the rhetoric between Moscow and Brussels is a step closer to a scenario in which small countries once again become the terrain, not the players. Is anyone in these capitals thinking about what „the last centimeter" means for those who live on the lines between the blocs?