Russia’s nuclear warning as NATO considers Nordic expansion

Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev has warned of alarming consequences if Finland and Sweden join NATO.

Dmitry Medvedev suggested that Moscow would respond with deployments of nuclear weapons to its Baltic enclave, Kaliningrad. Picture: AFP

Russia has warned that it will boost its forces in the Baltic region, including with nuclear missiles, if Finland and Sweden join NATO.

Dmitry Medvedev, Russia’s former president, said on Thursday that NATO membership for the two Nordic countries would pose a ­direct threat to his homeland’s security.

He suggested Moscow would respond with deployments of nuclear weapons to Kaliningrad, its Baltic exclave between Poland and Lithuania, both NATO members.

“The land borders of the ­alliance with the Russian Federation will more than double,” Mr Medvedev, who is the deputy head of Russia’s national security council, said of Sweden and Finland’s potential accession.

“In this event, there can be no talk of the nuclear-free status of the Baltic, the balance must be restored.”

He also said that Moscow would “significantly” strengthen its naval forces in the Gulf of Finland.

“Until today, Russia has not taken such measures and was not going to,” Mr Medvedev, 56, said. “If our hand is forced, well … take note it was not us who proposed this.”

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to comment on the deployment of nuclear weapons to the region.

Russian troops during a military exercise at a training ground near Kaliningrad, Russia. Picture AP /Russian Defense Ministry Press Service

“This will be considered at a separate meeting with the president,” he said.

Sweden and Finland held neutral status throughout the Cold War, but Russia’s unprovoked attack on Ukraine has triggered a spike in support for joining NATO.

Both countries face Russia across the Baltic Sea and Finland shares a 1335km land border. They could join NATO as early as this northern summer, officials say.

The idea of a nuclear weapon-free zone in the Baltic states has been proposed for decades as a de-escalatory measure between Russia and the West.

In theory it bans the deployment of any warheads in Kaliningrad, as well as at NATO bases in Germany.

Kaliningrad, which was known as Konigsberg until 1946, was annexed by the Kremlin from Germany at the end of World War II.

Mr Medvedev’s comments came after video appeared to show Russian military hardware moving towards the Finnish border in a show of strength.

President Vladimir Putin put Russia’s nuclear force on high alert in February, just days after ordering troops into Ukraine.

He has also warned Western countries not to get involved in the conflict in Ukraine or face “consequences they have never seen”.

Russia is believed to have already moved nuclear weapons to Kaliningrad.

A Russian Iskander-K missile is launched during a training exercise. Russia deployed the missiles in its Nordic enclave in 2018, an MP says. Picture: Russian Defence Ministry/AFP)

In 2018, Vladimir Shamanov, a senior Russian MP, said that Moscow had deployed nuclear-capable Iskander missiles to the region.

He did not say how many or for how long, however.

The Kremlin had said that previous deployments of Iskanders to Kaliningrad were temporary and a response to the US building up its forces in the Baltic region.

The Iskander is a mobile ballistic missile system that is codenamed SS-26 Stone by NATO.

It replaced the Soviet Scud missile. Its two guided missiles have a range of about 480km and can carry either conventional or nuclear warheads.

Lithuania’s Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte dismissed Moscow’s threats.

“Kaliningrad is a very militarised zone and has been for many years,” she said. “This is nothing new.

“Nuclear weapons have always been kept in Kaliningrad. The international community, the countries in the region, are perfectly aware of this. They use it as a threat.”

Before his invasion of Ukraine, Mr Putin, 69, demanded that NATO withdraw its forces from central and eastern Europe and pledge to cease its expansion towards Russia’s borders. NATO membership for Finland and Sweden would represent a “massive strategic blunder” by the Kremlin, a senior US official said recently.

The Times