Russia has warned that if Finland and Sweden joins NATO then Kremlin would attack the two states in the Baltic Sea with nuclear weapons.
‘There can be no more talk of any nuclear-free status for the Baltic – the balance must be restored,’ said Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council.
‘Naturally, we will have to reinforce these borders. Until today, Russia has not taken such measures and was not going to. If our hand is forced well… take note it wasn’t us who proposed this.’
Dmitry Medvedev added that Russia would ‘seriously reinforce its group of ground forces and air defences and deploy significant naval forces in the Gulf of Finland.’
Russia made this threat after Finland and Sweden moved closer to joining NATO, the two plan to submit their application bids in the coming weeks.
Magdalana Anderson, Sweden’s Prime Minister, is eager for the country to join NATO by June. This has angered Vladimir Putin who led the attack on Ukraine who had expressed their desire to join NATO.
Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, told journalists that this is not the first time the government is talking about ‘reinforcing our western flank’, Putin issued an order to counter NATO’s growing military potential.
Journalists asked whether the reinforcement would include nuclear weapons and the spokesman said: I can’t say…There will be a whole list of measures, necessary steps. This will be covered at a separate meeting by the president.’
Sweden is expected to submit their application to join NATO during a planned meeting in Madrid scheduled for June 29-30. This is according to reports from Sweden.
On the other hand, Sweden is starting their application process in the coming weeks. This was revealed by the country’s Prime Minister, Sanna Marin.
Early during the week, Finland announced a joint military exercise in Western Finland where forces from United States, Estonia, Latvia and Britain are participating.
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