Ukraine war: Russia ‘would deploy nuclear arms’ if Finland, Sweden join Nato
- Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has pushed Finland and Sweden closer to joining Nato
- Moscow threatened to deploy nuclear weapons in and around Baltic in response
Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev warned Thursday that Russia would deploy nuclear weapons close to the Baltic States and Scandinavia if Finland or Sweden decide to join Nato.
Medvedev, deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council and president from 2008 to 2012, wrote on Telegram that if the countries joined, this would more than double Russia’s land border with Nato members.
“Naturally, we will have to reinforce these borders,” he said.
“In this case, it would not be possible to talk any more about the Baltic non-nuclear status. The balance has to be restored,” he said, indicating that Russia would be entitled to deploy nuclear weapons in the region.
The former president said Russia would “seriously reinforce its group of ground forces and air defences and deploy significant naval forces in the Gulf of Finland.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, asked about the comments by journalists, said that “this has been talked about many times” and President Vladimir Putin has issued an order on “reinforcing our Western flank” due to Nato’s growing military potential.