 Presence of foreign troops in Ukraine will not breach international norms. Czech president. The president of the Czech Republic Petro Pavl is convinced that if NATO forces provide support directly on the territory of Ukraine, it will not violate any international norms. Pavl said this in an interview with Czech television. He told that it is necessary to clearly distinguish between the deployment of combat troops and the potential involvement of troops in certain support activities in which NATO already has experience. It should be remembered that after the annexation of Crimea and the occupation of part of Donbas, which was essentially an act of aggression, albeit on a much smaller scale than today, a NATO training mission was operating on Ukrainian territory, which at one time included more than 15 countries and numbered around 1,000 people. Pavl reminded. He emphasized that from the perspective of international law and the UN Charter, there would be nothing to prevent NATO member states' troops from assisting in operations in Ukraine. Asked whether he would support the deployment of NATO troops for direct support on Ukrainian territory, Pavl said that he wouldn't rule out discussing the matter further. I would certainly not reject a debate on this issue if we could agree with the Allies that, for example, instead of training Ukrainian soldiers on the territory of NATO member states and transporting thousands of troops to, say, Poland or the Czech Republic, it would make much more sense to transport a few dozen instructors to Ukrainian territory and train Ukrainian soldiers there. He said. Russia focused on Baltic to take fight to NATO. Lithuania warns. Russia is preparing for a long-term confrontation with NATO. While it steps up its campaign in Ukraine, an intelligence report has disclosed, according to the National Media Outlet, as a result of lessons learned from the bloody fighting with its neighbour, Moscow has an army that has improved its combat effectiveness, Lithuania's intelligence agencies reported. Russia is planning a war with NATO while it continues its campaign against Ukraine, where it is learning valuable tactical lessons, especially in the use of drones, the report said. The National says that the Baltic Sea region was the key focus for the Kremlin's potential attack on the Alliance, where it has increased its air and naval resources, according to Lithuania's declassified 2024 National Threat Assessment. This included missile cruisers, equipped with the caliber cruise missile near St. Petersburg and its force of Tupolev Tu-22 backfire heavy bombers, conducting five sorties over the Baltic Sea last year in 2022. Russia is preparing for a long-term confrontation with NATO, including in the Baltic Sea region, and is gradually expanding its military capability westward. The report said there is also a strong likelihood that President Vladimir Putin will use his near-guaranteed victory in next week's Russian presidential election, starting on Friday as a platform to make unpopular decisions. This could well include the imposition of greater mobilisation for Russian men to bolster the army's ranks, which could allow the Kremlin to address some potential constraints on its long-term war effort, the Institute for the Study of War said. The Washington think tank also reported that Russian military thinkers were now openly discussing how Russia can go to war against NATO. In the near future, it quoted an article in the Russian Ministry of Defense Journal, military thought that suggested the war in Ukraine could escalate into a large-scale war in Europe. The Russian colonel author argued that peace in Ukraine would not lead to the end of confrontation between the West and Russia. Lithuania's intelligence chiefs suggested Russia had the manpower, material and financial resources to sustain the Ukraine fight. Despite suffering heavy losses in personnel and equipment, since the 2022 invasion, Russia has been able to rebuild its armed forces in greater numbers. Moscow is able to evaluate the lessons learned and improve its combat effectiveness, said the report, composed by Lithuania's State Security Department and the Defense Intelligence and Security Service. Russia continued to prioritize quantity of manpower and material over quality of forces it added. Russian armed forces systematically used torture in occupied areas of Ukraine. Russian armed forces and associated groups systematically used torture in occupied areas of Ukraine, pointing to a deliberate policy a United Nations expert said. The UN's special rapporteur on torture, Alice Jill Edwards, said she had drawn that conclusion following a visit to war-torn Ukraine in September. The volume of credible allegations of torture and other forms of cruel, inhuman or humiliating treatment or punishment torture is an element of Russia's war policy. She told the UN Human Rights Council. These grievous crimes appear to be neither random nor incidental. Speaking to reporters, Edwards said Ukrainian prosecutors had told her there were around 103,000 open cases related to war crimes and crimes against humanity, of which 90% were registered as torture cases. Edwards, who said she had personally examined dozens of cases involving alleged abuse by Russian forces and their allies, said there was clearly an intent and purpose to carry out the torture that cannot be described away as aberrant or ad hoc behavior. In a report following her visit, Edwards found that torture has been carried out in an organized and systematic manner with the same practices allegedly carried out across different occupied regions. Her findings, she told the council, point to direct authorization and a deliberate policy. Edwards and other special rapporteurs are independent rights experts who are appointed by the UN Human Rights Council but do not speak on behalf of the UN. She reiterated a plea for Moscow to issue a strong and unequivocal directive that torture is never permissible and that it will be punished. Edwards, who has been denied access to Russia, also urged the country to open investigations into these allegations and allow international monitors into all places of deprivation of liberty and to observe criminal proceedings. Turning to the conditions Russian prisoners of war face in Ukrainian custody, she said sincere efforts were being made by the Ukrainian authorities to treat prisoners of war respectfully.