Quote Originally Posted by Montmorency View Post
A military buildup to the point of correcting this would be socially and economically ruinous, and require stationing hundreds of thousands of troops in place. These troops would also have to be extensively depoted and backed up with similar reserves in Eastern Europe since the Baltics would be instantly isolated by land regardless of their garrison. Meanwhile, Russia itself would be provoked into surging its own military budget, polarizing its politics and causing a more aggressive and risky posture than even now along its border in response to the astonishing and unprecedented new threat from the West.
You speak as if Russia's budget (both military and otherwise) is limitless. Judging from pension age and income tax increases introduced in Russia recently its resources don't seem to match its appetites.