The Russian-Ukrainian conflict, which has been going on for several years, keeps not only the participants themselves but also outside observers on the edge of their seat. Russia has a negative perception of the West, and Europe, in turn, sees Russia as the No. 1 enemy. Both Russia and the United States can use weapons if necessary. This fact leads politicians and journalists to think about the possibility of a military conflict between the world's largest countries.

The online edition of Vox addresses this topic in the article "How World War III became possible" by Max Fisher, which examines the options for starting a conflict, the mood of the parties, the possible culmination, and denouement. The article is supplemented with a block diagram of one of the most probable scenarios for the development of the conflict - "Baltic".

According to this scenario, the beginning can be initiated by an uprising of ethnic Russians in eastern Estonia and its subsequent suppression by the government. Russia, most likely, will call it genocide and will begin retaliatory actions. Unlike Ukraine, the Baltic countries are NATO members, so an attack on Estonia will require America and the greater part of Europe, in accordance with Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty, to declare war on Russia. The block diagram provided by the Vox edition shows that the conflict either can fade away, or lead to a global destruction of the entire globe.

According to European politicians, Russian leaders are putting military pressure on the Baltic states. In 2014, Russia's warships were in the waters of Latvia no less than 40 times, and combat aircraft were seen more than once over the Baltic States. NATO is also not far behind - it conducts military parades at Russian borders. Such total mistrust is fully capable of engendering the World War III, politicians believe.