Russia Issues Threat To Deploy Nukes In Baltic If Sweden Or Finland Join NATO
By Donald Standeford, Correspondent - Follow -
Date Published: April 14, 2022 11:45AM UTC
Last Modified: April 14, 2022 11:45AM UTC
MOSCOW - Russia has put out a threat to deploy nuclear weapons in the Baltic if Sweden or Finland joins NATO after the two countries expressed the intention to apply to join the alliance.
Dmitry Medvedev, who is the head of the Russian Security Council stated that Moscow would need to strengthen its defenses in the region and said that "in this case, there will be no question of any nuclear-free status of the Baltic region - the balance will have to be restored".
The Lithuanian Prime Minister says that they aren't worried about Medvedev's threat to deploy nuclear weapons in the Baltic Sea region if Sweden and Finland join the NATO alliance. "That Russia threatens, it is nothing new. Kaliningrad is a very militarized zone, has been for many years, and it is in the Baltic region".
In late March 2022 Medvedev, who is a former President of Russia and now serves as the chairman of the country's security council had stated that there are four reasons that Russia could be 'entitled' to use its nuclear weapons, which include using them even if the enemy is only using conventional weapons.
The Guardian quoted Medvedev as saying that "Number one is the situation when Russia is struck by a nuclear missile. The second case is any use of other nuclear weapons against Russia or its allies".
"The third is an attack on a critical infrastructure that will have paralyzed our nuclear deterrent forces. And the fourth case is when an act of aggression is committed against Russia and its allies, which jeopardized the existence of the country itself, even without the use of nuclear weapons, that is, with the use of conventional weapons" he continued.
He had added that there shouldn't be any reason to doubt that Russia would be "ready to give a worthy response to any infringement on our country, or on its independence".
