Russia has warned Nato that if Finland and Sweden were to join the military alliance, then it would take measures in the Baltic.
Dmitry Medvedev is reported by Reuters saying: “There can be no more talk of any nuclear-free status for the Baltic - the balance must be restored. Until today, Russia has not taken such measures and was not going to.”
Medvedev has been deputy chairman of the security council of Russia since 2020. He has previously been president and prime minister of Russia, and is a long-term ally of Vladimir Putin.
Finland and Sweden took a major step towards joining Nato yesterday, after their prime ministers said Russia’s invasion of
Ukraine had changed Europe’s “whole security landscape” and “dramatically shaped mindsets” in the Nordic countries.
The Finnish prime minister, Sanna Marin, said on Wednesday that her country, which shares a 1,300km (810-mile) border with
Russia, would decide whether to apply to join the alliance “quite fast, in weeks not months”, despite the risk of infuriating Moscow.