INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
One of Russian President Vladimir Putin&s closest allies warned NATO on Thursday that if Sweden and Finland joined the US-led military
alliance then Russia would deploy nuclear weapons and hypersonic missiles in a European exclave.Finland, which shares a 1,300-km border with
Russia, and Sweden are considering joining the NATO alliance
Finland will decide in the next few weeks, Prime Minister Sanna Marin said on Wednesday.Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of Russia&s
Security Council, said that should Sweden and Finland join NATO then Russia would have to strengthen its land, naval and air forces in the
Baltic Sea, Reuters reported.Medvedev also explicitly raised the nuclear threat by saying that there could be no more talk of a &nuclear
free& Baltic & where Russia has its Kaliningrad exclave sandwiched between Poland and Lithuania.There can be no more talk of any
nuclear&free status for the Baltic & the balance must be restored,& said Medvedev, who was Russian president from 2008 to 2012.Medvedev said
he hoped Finland and Sweden would see sense
If not, he said, they would have to live with nuclear weapons and hypersonic missiles close to home, Reuters reported.When asked how
Washington views the potential addition of Sweden and Finland to NATO in light of Russia&s warning, the United States State Department said
there was no change in Washington&s position and repeated that &NATO&s open door is an open door.Without speaking to any countries in
particular, we would not be concerned that the expansion of a defensive alliance would do anything other than promote stability on the
European continent,& Department spokesperson Ned Price said in a briefing.Russia has the world&s biggest arsenal of nuclear warheads and
along with China and the United States is one of the global leaders in hypersonic missile technology.The post Russia warns of nuclear,
hypersonic deployment if Sweden, Finland join NATO first appeared on Ariana News.
