Russia threatens to build nuclear power if Finland and Sweden join NATO
Russia has threatened to deploy nuclear weapons in and around the Baltic Sea region if Finland and Sweden join NATO as tensions fueled by Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine spread.
“In this case, there can be no question of non-nuclear status for the Baltic Sea,” said Dmitry Medvedev, deputy head of the Security Council and former president, in a Telegram post on Thursday, suggesting that Russia may deploy Iskander missiles. , hypersonic weapons and nuclear-armed ships in the region.
Medvedev’s comments are among the most detailed threats Russia has issued regarding the prospect that its northwestern neighbors could join the alliance after decades of staying out. But both Finland and Sweden said this week that they are intensifying treatment of the issue in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The threats were empty because Russia already has nuclear weapons in its enclave of Kaliningrad on the Baltic Sea, Lithuanian Defense Minister Arvydas Anusauskas told the BNS news service on Thursday.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to comment on the possibility of deploying nuclear weapons in the Baltic Sea region, but said Putin had already ordered the military to prepare plans to strengthen defense along Russia’s western borders.
Medvedev said he hoped “common sense” would prevail and that the countries would decide not to join the alliance.
Russia’s border with Finland extends over 1,300 kilometers, which is more than the total length of its border with current NATO members. If the countries join the alliance, “we will seriously need to strengthen our land forces and air defenses and deploy significant naval forces in the Gulf of Finland basin,” Medvedev said.
Although initiatives to consider NATO membership gained momentum in both countries only after the invasion, Medvedev argued that Russia’s move was not to blame. At the same time, he suggested that although it was a key goal for Russia’s operation there to keep Ukraine out of the Western alliance, the country views the situation with Finland and Sweden in different ways.
“We do not have territorial disputes with the countries we have with Ukraine,” he said. “For that reason, the price of their membership is different for us.”
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