Lithuania announced this week it had blocked and fortified a bridge over the Nieman River linking it to the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, the latest in a series of escalations in the Baltic Sea region. Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine exacerbated fears of a potential open conflict between Moscow and NATO, with Lithuania, bordering Russia’s ally Belarus and Kaliningrad Oblast, finding itself one of the first countries threatened by such a clash. A picture released by Lithuania’s Defense Minister Laurynas Kasciunas on Oct. 9 showed his country is taking the threat seriously. The bridge …