Lithuania has warned that Russian President Vladimir Putin may test Nato in the weeks before Donald Trump becomes US president.

Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius said he was "very afraid" for the Baltics, as well as the Syrian city of Aleppo.

Nowhere is the troubled transition of Donald Trump being watched more carefully than in the Baltic states.

Lithuania believes its dark view of Russian intentions is justified by its geography and its history.

Once part of the Soviet Union, it is now a member of both Nato and the European Union. It has a land border with the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad on the Baltic Sea.

In the capital, Vilnius, there is a mural showing Mr Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin locked in a passionate embrace.

The government naturally expresses its views in less lurid terms but it shares the basic concern of the artist that Mr Trump and Mr Putin are too close for comfort.

The fear here is that the United States is keen to see Russia as a potential partner and reluctant to share the view in Eastern Europe that Moscow presents a potent and immediate military threat.

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Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius told the BBC simply: "Russia is not a superpower, it's a super problem."

Russia insists it is not a threat, arguing that Nato is responsible for stoking regional tensions by expanding eastwards and moving its military hardware towards Russian borders.

The Russian exclave of Kaliningrad represents an important military outpost between Poland and Lithuania with its coastline on the Baltic Sea.

The accumulation of radars and air defence systems, as well as coastal anti-shipping missiles, all form part of Moscow's developing "anti-access and area denial strategy", which in essence seeks to push Nato forces away from Russia and to make it very difficult to reinforce Nato members in the Baltic region in the event of a crisis.

Strengthened under comprehensive reform of Russian armed forces announced in 2008. From 2008-2014 saw significant increases in personnel in missile, naval infantry, rifle and artillery brigades, in some cases doubled

From 2012, deployment of new S-400 long-range air defence system (Nato name: SA-21 Growler)

From 2012, deployment of Iskander-M short-range, nuclear-capable ballistic missiles. New deployment announced in October 2016

October 2016: Two Buyan-class corvettes assigned to Baltic Fleet, armed with nuclear-capable Kalibr cruise missiles (Nato name: Sizzler)

Coastal defences currently being strengthened with Bal land-based anti-ship missile system and Bastion mobile anti-ship defence system, Izvestia reports

Mr Linkevicius said there was a danger that Mr Putin would see the period between now and the inauguration of Donald Trump in January as an opportunity to test the military preparedness and diplomatic determination of the Western alliance.

"The new administration doesn't come in until the second part of January," he said. "I'm very afraid and concerned about this period not just because of the regions which are close to here but let's hope that Aleppo is not smashed from the ground by then."