Russia threatens with new nuclear weapons if Sweden, Finland joins NATO
Dmitry Medvedev, Prime Minister of Russia.
Andrey Rudakov | Bloomberg | Getty pictures
Russia says that a nuclear-weapon-free Baltic region would no longer be possible if Finland and Sweden join NATO, which alludes to further nuclear expansion in Europe.
“There can no longer be any question of a nuclear-weapon-free status for the Baltic Sea – the balance must be restored,” Dmitry Medvedev, former president and deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, wrote on his official Telegram channel on Thursday.
The comments come a day after Finland and Sweden said that their decision to apply for membership in NATO would come within a few weeks. The leaders of the countries said that their security assessments had changed dramatically after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February.
If Finland and Sweden joined NATO, this would give Moscow “more officially registered opponents”, Medvedev added. He claimed that NATO planned to let the two Nordic states in with “minimal bureaucratic procedures”.
Russia’s response should be taken with “no emotion, with a cold head”, he added.
The Baltics, which include the northeastern European countries Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, are members of the EU and NATO. Finland and Sweden are members of the EU, but not NATO, and the latter shares an 830 km long border with Russia.
Lithuania, which borders the Russian eclave of Kaliningrad, brushed off Medvedev’s comments on Thursday.
This is “nothing new”, said Lithuanian Defense Minister Arvydas Anusauskas, adding that Russia already has nuclear weapons in the Baltic region.
“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,” the minister was quoted as saying by the Lithuanian BNS Council.
“Nuclear weapons have always been stored in Kaliningrad … the international community, the countries of the region, are fully aware of this … They are using it as a threat,” he added.
Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine has triggered a complete reversal in Finnish public opinion when it joined the 30-member military alliance, which it has refrained from joining since World War II in an attempt to maintain neutrality. Moscow has previously warned of severe consequences and instability in the Nordic region if Finland were to join.
If Finland joined the alliance, Sweden would probably follow suit. Finland and Sweden, as well as Ukraine, are already “Enhanced Opportunity Partners” to NATO, the closest form of partnership with the Alliance, and participate in military exercises with NATO states.