Europe on alert after Russia’s threat of nuclear deployment if Sweden and Finland join NATO

In the midst of its war with Ukraine, Russia has decided to go one step further. This, after threatening to deploy nuclear weapons if Finland and Sweden join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
This has been confirmed by the Vice President of the Russian Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev, who said that, if the decision materializes, they will make a “military deployment”.
“We will have to strengthen the grouping of ground forces, the air defense, deploy important naval forces in the waters of the Gulf of Finland. And, in that case, we can no longer talk about a Baltic without nuclear weapons. Balance must be restored.”
Despite these statements, the zone passes warned that Russia already has nuclear weapons in Kaliningrad. This was pointed out by the Minister of Defense of Lithuania, Arvydas Anusauskas.
“The Russian threats are a bit strange when we know that, even without the current security situation, it has weapons 100 kilometers from our border,” he said.
“They have always stockpiled nuclear weapons in Kaliningrad. The international community, the countries of the region, are perfectly aware of this. They use it as a threat,” he added.
NATO’s closest nuclear weapons to Russia are found in Germany and Turkey. After the Russian invasion of Ukraine, both Sweden and Finland have reconsidered their traditional neutrality and are considering joining the organization.
In addition to threatening nuclear deployment, Medvedev said that if both countries join NATO, Russia will deploy more troops in the area.
“If Sweden and Finland join NATO, the land border will be double and naturally it will have to be reinforced. It will be necessary to drastically increase land and air defenses, and deploy significant naval forces in the Gulf of Finland,” he said.
Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin said they will decide “in the coming weeks” whether or not to start the procedures to join the military organization. The statements were made after meeting with his Swedish counterpart, Magdalena Andersson, who has been more cautious about the possible determination.
The entry of the two countries into the military alliance would raise the number of members to 32. It should be noted that at the end of June, a NATO meeting will be held in Madrid, at which time the formal procedures for accession can begin.

Original source in Spanish