As Vilnius is in Lithuania and Lithuania is in NATO, Putin may consider Vilnius for New York a double win.
As for Russia's end game I submit that is too far in the future. In the near term I think he is more concerned with reesatablishing Russia's Cold War sphere of influence. Some of this is not possible as the Warsaw Last countries are deeply embedded in Europe but the Baltic States, Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are much easier targets.
Russia lost its Mediterranean ports and anchorage so reestablishing their Syrian port is a logical step.
Last edited by Pontius Navigator; 13th Apr 2018 at 11:58.