e late last month, said it would be “completely stupid” of any country to attack EU or NATO members. “Russia will not attack Albania and Russia will not attack any other European country,” he said. “NATO is ready for any kind of aggression. NATO has nobody and nothing to fear because it’s the strongest army in the world so far.” Twenty-three out of 27 EU member states are NATO members. Albania is part of NATO and has been an EU candidate country since 2014. “The EU is being provoked a lot by Russia,” said Rama. “Countries on the border with Russia are being provoked on a daily basis … the EU is defending itself and thinking of defending itself better.” Since early September, several European countries , including Poland, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania , Norway and Romania, have blamed Russia for a series of suspected drone incursions. Tensions soared further on September 19, when NATO said it intercepted three Russian MiG-31 jets suspected of entering Estonian airspace, a claim denied by Moscow. Last month, German foreign intelligence chief Martin Jager warned lawmakers that to grow its “sphere of influence further westward into Europe ”, Russia would “shy away from direct military confrontation with NATO if necessary”.