Russia has threatened to build up nuclear forces in the Baltic Sea region if Sweden and Finland join NATO. Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, published a lengthy Telegram post on Thursday outlining the Kremlin’s response. Promising that Moscow would respond “without emotion, with a cool head,” he said the additional two countries joining NATO would mean Moscow “officially has more opponents.” Russia will be forced to “seriously strengthen the grouping of ground forces and air defense, and deploy significant naval forces in the waters of the Gulf of Finland,” he said. “There can be no more talk of any nuclear-free status for the Baltic, the balance must be restored,” Medvedev wrote. “Until today, Russia has not taken such measures and was not going to.” In response to the veiled threat, Lithuanian Defense Minister Arvydas Anusauskas pointed out that it was “quite strange” Russia was threatening a nuclear buildup when it already has nuclear weapons in Kaliningrad, on the Baltic Sea.
