Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on April 13 warned that the Baltic Sea region could no longer remain “nuclear-free” if Finland and Sweden join NATO.
Medvedev, one of President Vladimir Putin’s closest allies who now serves as the deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, made the nuclear threat one day after Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin said Helsinki is edging closer toward possibly joining NATO and will come to a conclusion “within weeks” rather than months.
“In this case, it would not be possible to talk anymore about the Baltic non-nuclear status. The balance has to be restored,” Medvedev said on his personal Telegram channel.
Finland shares the EU’s longest border with Russia, an 832-mile frontier. The ongoing war in Ukraine has triggered a surge in support for joining NATO in Finland and Sweden, two traditionally militarily non-aligned Nordic countries.
“If Sweden and Finland join NATO, the length of the alliance’s land borders with the Russian Federation will more than double,” Medvedev said, noting that Moscow would be forced to “seriously strengthen” ground, naval, and air defenses in the waters of the Gulf of Finland.
“Naturally, we will have to reinforce these borders,” he said. “Until now, Russia has not taken such measures and was not going to take them. If we are forced—well … we did not propose it.”
It is not the first time Moscow has made nuclear threats, although Thursday’s comments are some of the toughest yet by a prominent Kremlin official.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters after being asked to provide a comment on Medvedev’s statement that “this has been talked about many times” and Putin has issued an order on “reinforcing our western flank” due to NATO’s eastward expansion.
“I can’t say … There will be a whole list of measures, necessary steps,” Peskov said after being asked if the deployment of additional military infrastructure in the Baltic Sea region would include nuclear weapons. “This will be covered at a separate meeting by the president,” he added.
Arvydas Anusauskas, Lithuanian defense minister, was quick to denounce Medvedev’s comments, saying they are nothing new and that Russia had deployed nuclear-armed cruise missiles in the region for years.
“The current Russian threats look quite strange when we know that, even without the present security situation, they keep the weapons [about 60 miles] from Lithuania’s border,” the defense minister said. “Nuclear weapons have always been kept in Kaliningrad. … The countries in the region, are perfectly aware of this.”
Kaliningrad
Kaliningrad is an enclave on the Baltic Sea sandwiched between NATO members Lithuania and Poland and is of particular importance in the northern European theatre. Formerly the Prussian port of Koenigsberg, capital of East Prussia, it lies less than 870 miles from London and Paris and 310 miles from Berlin.
Russia said in 2018 it had deployed Iskander missiles to Kaliningrad, which was captured by the Red Army in April 1945 and ceded to the Soviet Union at the Potsdam conference.
The Iskander, known as SS-26 Stone by NATO, is a short-range tactical ballistic missile system that can carry both conventional and nuclear warheads. Its official range is about 300 miles but some Western military sources suspect its range may be much greater.
“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,” Medvedev said in his Thursday comments over Finland and Sweden potentially joining NATO.
Reuters contributed to this report.