Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of Russia’s security council, said that the Kremlin could end the region’s “nuclear free” status
(Picture: AP)Russia will deploy nuclear weapons in the Baltic region if Finland and Sweden join Nato, one of Vladimir Putin’s most senior allies has warned.
Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of Russia’s security council, said the Kremlin could end the region’s “nuclear free” status if the two Nordic countries join the military alliance.
Finland, which shares a 1,300km border with Russia, and Sweden are mulling whether or not to join Nato following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky has warned that Moscow’s territorial ambitions are not limited to his country alone.
Prime minister Sanna Marin said on Wednesday that Finland would make a decision “in weeks, not months” over whether to join Nato.
Responding to her comments, Mr Medvedev said there could be no more talk of a "nuclear free" Baltic - where Russia has its Kaliningrad exclave sandwiched between Poland and Lithuania.
"There can be no more talk of any nuclear free status for the Baltic - the balance must be restored," said Mr Medvedev, who was Russian president from 2008-2012.
“Until today, Russia has not taken such measures and was not going to," Mr Medvedev said.
“If our hand is forced well... take note it wasn’t us who proposed this.”
The Kremlin has repeatedly voiced its opposition to the expansion of Nato into former Soviet countries, falsely claiming it poses a security threat to Russia itself.
Nato’s Article 5 demands that armed forces from all member states mobilise when one is attacked. As Ukraine is not a member of Nato, the alliance has not engaged in direct military confrontation with Russia.
Ms Marin said this week that Finland had to be “prepared for all kinds of actions from Russia” and that “everything had changed” when Mr Putin decided to invade Ukraine.
“The difference between being a partner and a member is very clear, and will remain so. There is no other way to have security guarantees than under Nato’s deterrence and common defence as guaranteed by the alliance’s article 5,” she said.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has prompted a surge of pro-Nato sentiment in Baltic countries, with 68 per cent of Finnish respondents saying they were in favour of joining the alliance in a recent poll – more than double the figure before the war.
Finland was ruled by Russia for more than a century but declared independence in 1917, going on to defend itself from Soviet forces in World War Two.
