On Thursday, the deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council and one of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s closest aides, Dmitry Medvedev, threatened to deploy nuclear weapons and hypersonic missiles to the Kaliningrad exclave located between Poland and Lithuania if Sweden and Finland join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council, said that should Sweden and Finland join NATO then Russia would deploy nuclear weapons and hypersonic missiles in an exclave in the heart of Europe https://t.co/SnlxpqNeXk pic.twitter.com/ZkWjZYiRez
— Reuters (@Reuters) April 14, 2022
Medvedev on Telegram asserted, “If Sweden and Finland join NATO, the length of the land borders of the alliance with the Russian Federation will more than double. Naturally, these boundaries will have to be strengthened,” adding, “There can be no more talk of any nuclear-free status for the Baltic — the balance must be restored.”
Medvedev also urged Helsinki and Stockholm to see sense or be ready to live with nuclear weapons and hypersonic missiles close to their borders. “No sane person wants higher prices and higher taxes, increased tensions along borders, Iskanders, hypersonics and ships with nuclear weapons literally at arm’s length from their own home. Let’s hope that the common sense of our northern neighbours will win,” he remarked.
Medvedev’s comments come after Sweden and Finland announced plans to join the Alliance on Wednesday. While Swedish Prime Minister (PM) Magdalena Andersson declared that the country is likely to apply for membership by June, her Finnish counterpart Sanna Marin mentioned that her Parliament would discuss NATO membership within weeks, rather than months.
Finland has taken the first step toward joining NATO, Prime Minister Sanna Marin says, citing the threat from neighboring Russia after it invaded Ukraine https://t.co/CA2E5ngwzj pic.twitter.com/1uVAxB2fic
— Bloomberg Quicktake (@Quicktake) April 14, 2022
Finland shares the longest land border (1,300 kilometres) with Russia and has in the past been wary of infuriating Moscow. Helsinki has fought two wars against Moscow, during which it lost considerable territory. Sweden, on the other hand, has not fought a war in 200 years. However, the Russian invasion of Ukraine has forced both countries to reconsider their stance on NATO membership. Moreover, recent polls in the two countries indicate that there is large public support for such a move.
When questioned about Russia’s nuclear threat following Sweden and Finland’s NATO bid, the United States (US) State Department reiterated NATO’s open-door policy, saying, “Without speaking to any countries, in particular, we would not be concerned that the expansion of a defensive alliance would do anything other than promote stability on the European continent.”
Meanwhile, Lithuanian Minister for National Defence Arvydas Anušauskas dismissed Russia’s nuclear threats as “nothing new,” noting that the international community is “perfectly aware” that Russia had already deployed nuclear weapons to the Kaliningrad exclave long before the Ukraine war. “The current Russian threats look quite strange when we know that, even without the present security situation, they keep the weapon 100 kilometres from Lithuania’s border,” he added.
Lithuania's Prime Minister isn't worried about Medvedev's threat to deploy nukes in the Baltic region if Sweden and Finland join NATO:
— Samuel Ramani (@SamRamani2) April 14, 2022
"That Russia threatens, it is nothing new. Kaliningrad is a very militarised zone, has been for many years, and it is in the Baltic region”
In 2018, the Federation of American Scientists (FAS) reported that Russia had renovated an active nuclear weapons storage site in the Kaliningrad region. However, they could not confirm whether nuclear warheads were already being stored there, would arrive, or would be moved there in case of a security crisis. Pavel Podvig, a military expert from Geneva researching on Russia’s nuclear unit, affirmed, “There are conflicting reports about whether Russia actually has any weapons in Kolosovka. We don’t really know.”