Russia asserts that it is impossible to have a nuke-free Baltic Region if Finland and Sweden become NATO members, referring to further nuclear deployments in Europe.

Dmitry Medvedev (ex-president and former deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council), wrote that there can no longer be any talk about a nuclear-free Baltic. The balance has to be restored.

You can leave comments for a whole day. Finland and Sweden said their decision on whether to apply for NATO membership would come within a matter of weeks. According to the leaders of these countries, their security assessment had drastically changed after Russia invaded Ukraine in February.

Medvedev stated that Russia would have “more officially registered adversaries” if Finland or Sweden were to join NATO. Medvedev claimed NATO planned to accept the Nordic countries with minimal bureaucratic processes.

Russia’s reaction should be met with “no emotion” and “a cold head,” he said.

Baltics include the three north-eastern European nations of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Lithuania. Finland and Sweden, which are both members of NATO but not the EU, share an 830-mile border.

Lithuania is bordering the Russian exclave Kaliningrad.

Arvydas Asauskas, Lithuanian Defence Minister, said that this is “nothing new”. He also stated that Russia had nuclear weapons within the Baltic region.

Lithuanian’s BNS wire quoted the minister as saying, “The Russian threats appear quite bizarre, when you know that they keep their weapon 100km away from Lithuania’s border, even without current security conditions.”

“Nuclear weapons were always kept at Kaliningrad… The international community and the countries of the region are fully aware of this.” It is used as a menace,” he said.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine by Moscow has caused a U-turn among Finnish citizens regarding joining the military alliance that has 30 members. Finland has not joined since World War II to preserve neutrality and has therefore resisted joining. Moscow had warned that Finland joining the NATO would lead to instability and serious consequences.

Sweden is likely to join Finland if it joined the alliance. As NATO’s “Enhanced Opportunity Partners”, Finland, Sweden and Ukraine are the closest forms of partnership. They participate in military drills with NATO countries.