One of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s closest allies warned NATO on Thursday that Russia will have to strengthen its security in the region, including the deployment of nuclear weapons, if Sweden and Finland join a US-led military alliance. .
Finland, which shares a 1,300-kilometre (810 mi) border with Russia, and Sweden are considering joining the NATO alliance. Finland will make a decision in the next few weeks, Prime Minister Sanna Marin said on Wednesday.
Russian Security Council Vice President Dmitry Medvedev said Russia would have to strengthen its land, navy and air force in the Baltic Sea if Sweden and Finland join NATO.
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Medvedev also explicitly raised the nuclear threat by saying that there could be no more talk of a “nuclear-free” Baltic – where Russia’s Kaliningrad exclave is sandwiched between Poland and Lithuania.
Medvedev, who was president from 2008 to 2012, said “there can be no talk of any nuclear-free status for the Baltic – the balance must be restored.”
“To date, Russia has not taken such measures and is not going to,” Medvedev said. He said, “If our hand is forced well … note that it was not us who proposed it.”
Lithuania said Russia’s threats were nothing new and that Moscow had deployed nuclear weapons in Kaliningrad long before the war in Ukraine.
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The possible accession of Finland and Sweden to NATO – established in 1949 to provide collective Western security against the Soviet Union – would be one of the biggest European strategic consequences of the war in Ukraine.
Finland gained independence from Russia in 1917 and fought two wars against it during World War II, during which it lost some territory to Moscow. On Thursday, Finland announced a military exercise in western Finland with the participation of forces from Britain, the United States, Latvia and Estonia.
Sweden has not fought a war for 200 years and post-war foreign policy has focused on supporting democracy internationally, multilateral negotiations and nuclear disarmament.
Kaliningrad
Kaliningrad is of particular importance in the Northern European theatre. Formerly the Prussian port of Koenigsberg, the capital of East Prussia, it is located less than 1400 km from London and Paris and 500 km from Berlin.
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Russia said in 2018 it had deployed Iskander missiles in Kaliningrad, which was captured by the Red Army in April 1945 and handed over to the Soviet Union at the Potsdam Conference.
Iskander, known by NATO as the SS-26 Stone, is a short-range tactical ballistic missile system that can carry both conventional and nuclear warheads.
It has an official range of 500 km but some Western military sources suspect that its range may be much higher.
“No sane person wants high prices and high taxes, increased tensions on the borders, Iskanders, hypersonics and nuclear-armed ships away from their home,” Medvedev said.
“Hopefully the common sense of our northern neighbors will prevail,” Medvedev said.
Lithuanian Defense Minister Arvidas Anusukas said Russia had already deployed nuclear weapons in Kaliningrad before the war.
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“Nuclear weapons have always been kept in Kaliningrad … “They use it as a threat.”
Russia’s February 24 invasion of Ukraine killed thousands, displaced millions and sparked fears of a wider confrontation between Russia and the United States – the world’s two biggest nuclear powers.
Putin says a “special military operation” in Ukraine is necessary because the United States was using Ukraine to threaten Russia and Moscow had to defend against the oppression of Russian-speaking people by Ukraine.
Ukraine says it is fighting an imperialist-style land grab and Putin’s claims of genocide are rubbish. US President Joe Biden has called Putin a war criminal and dictator.
Putin says the conflict in Ukraine is part of a much broader confrontation with the United States, which he says is trying to exert its hegemony even as its dominance of the international system is diminishing.