Russia threatens NATO with nuclear weapons if Kaliningrad is isolated - media
Russia has warned NATO that it may resort to nuclear weapons if the Alliance countries try to isolate Kaliningrad Oblast from the rest of the Russian Federation. This is stated in an unofficial diplomatic document that Moscow handed to NATO and which Reuters has seen.
In the document, the Russian side asserts that NATO's actions in the Baltic region increase the risk of direct military confrontation. Moscow has made it clear that it would regard any potential attempt to cut off Kaliningrad as a threat to its own territory and reserves the possibility of using all available military means, including nuclear ones. It also allows for strikes on decision-making centers in Alliance countries in case an conflict erupts.
Kaliningrad Oblast is a Russian exclave on the Baltic Sea between Poland and Lithuania. The region has major military importance for the Russian Federation and is separated from the main territory of Russia by NATO states.
NATO responded by stating that the Alliance is defensive in nature, and that its exercises and other activities do not pose a threat to Russian territory. According to the Alliance, Moscow should end its full-scale war against Ukraine and abandon its increasingly harsh nuclear rhetoric.
The new threat comes amid a sharp deterioration in relations between Russia and European countries. NATO has repeatedly spoken of a campaign of Russian hybrid activity on the territory of Alliance countries. It includes sabotage, arson, cyberattacks, electronic jamming, disinformation operations and other actions carried out through proxies. Investigations and criminal proceedings into suspected hostile state activity have been conducted, in particular, by Czechia, Estonia, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and the United Kingdom.
One of the most recent cases occurred in Estonia. On 29 September, the Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the arson at the defence company Milrem Robotics in August was, according to the local internal security service, a sabotage ordered by Russian special services. Because of this incident, the Russian charge d'affaires was summoned to the ministry. Estonian authorities see the incident as part of a broader campaign of sabotage in Europe aimed, in their assessment, in particular at weakening support for Ukraine.
The European Union has also spoken of the systemic nature of hybrid operations that it attributes to Russia and its military intelligence. In Brussels, such actions include sabotage, damage to critical infrastructure, physical attacks, cyberattacks and information interference.
Russia rejects these accusations. The Kremlin denies that Moscow is waging a hybrid war against European states or preparing for an attack on NATO countries, and calls the accusations of involvement in sabotage groundless. The Kremlin also claims that it is NATO's military activity near Russia's borders that contributes to the rise in tensions.
Based on materials from: Reuters, NATO, Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs
