Portugal seeks to leverage its geographic marginality through a multidimensional foreign policy anchored in Atlanticism, Europeanism and Lusophony. Rather than resisting peripherality, Portugal reframes itself as an asset, being positioned as a connector and contributor to a broader, more inclusive European security framework. Within the traffic light system, Portugal’s threat perception is best captured as ‘yellow’ (a medium threat level), although Russia’s superior military capacity could justify either ‘green’ (low likelihood of direct conflict) or ‘red’ (capacity to occupy significant Portuguese territory), with an attack remaining unlikely in the near future.