Russia makes nuclear threat to Sweden, Finland due to NATO deliberations
Russia will need to strengthen its defense in the Baltic Sea – including a potential nuclear escalation – if Sweden and Finland joins NATOsaid Moscow on Thursday.
“There can no longer be any question of a nuclear-weapon-free status for the Baltic Sea – the balance must be restored,” said Dmitry Medvedev, vice chairman of Russia’s Security Council and Russia’s former president, according to Reuters.
“Until today, Russia has not taken such measures and will not do so. If our hand is forced, yes … note that it was not us who proposed this,” he added, according to Reuters.
Medvedev’s warning came when Sweden and Finland seemed closer than ever to joining the Western alliance.
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The Prime Ministers of Finland and Sweden held a joint press conference in Stockholm on Wednesday, where the Prime Minister of Finland Sanna Marin said that the country would decide on NATO membership within the next few weeks and the Prime Minister of Sweden Magdalena Andersson said that her country makes the same calculation. Finland shares a significant land border with Russia.
Lithuanian Defense Minister Arvydas Anusauskas said Russia already has nuclear weapons in the region, according to Sky News.
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“The current Russian threats look rather strange when we know that, even without the current security situation, they are holding the weapon 100 km from the Lithuanian border,” said Anusauskas. “Nuclear weapons have always been kept in Kaliningrad. The international community, the countries of the region, are fully aware of this. They are using it as a threat.”
Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte also dismissed the threat.
“Russia’s threat is nothing new,” Simonyte said on Thursday, according to the authority Independent. “Kaliningrad is a very militarized zone, it has been for many years, and it is in the Baltic Sea region.”