Russia Warns Lithuania Could Be Targeted by Nuclear Weapons

Russia warned Friday that Lithuania would become a target for its nuclear forces if the Baltic nation agreed to station nuclear weapons belonging to its Nato allies on its soil.

Lithuania is considering removing a constitutional prohibition on storing nuclear weapons in the country, a move intended to strengthen national security as Russia continues its war in Ukraine.

The proposal is making its way through parliament, where it requires a two-thirds majority. It is backed by the president and the country’s major political parties and could take effect this winter.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov described the potential change as “a very serious turn in terms of escalating tensions” during an interview with state television.

“If there are nuclear weapons on the territory that are aimed at us, accordingly, the territory of that country will fall into the crosshairs of our own nuclear weapons,” Peskov said.

Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda announced the initiative in July, saying the country wanted to become an “integral part of this nuclear deterrence.”

Still, Lithuanian officials have repeatedly stressed that there are currently no plans to host nuclear weapons in Lithuania.

The heightened tensions follow an incident in May, when Nato aircraft were scrambled after a drone flew over Vilnius, Lithuania’s capital, prompting the prime minister and president to be taken to a safe house.

The residents of the city were told to take shelter after drone activity from near Lithuania’s border with Russian ally Belarus.

An emergency announcement from the military told people in the Vilnius region to ‘immediately head to a shelter or a safe place’.

The alert, which lasted for about an hour, also led to the closure of the airspace over Vilnius Airport.

President Nauseda and Prime Minister Inga Ruginiene were taken to shelters, and there was also an evacuation order at Lithuania’s parliament.

‘Based on the parameters we saw, it’s most likely either a combat drone or a drone designed to deceive systems and lure targets,’ Vilmantas Vitkauskas, head of Lithuania’s National Crisis Management Centre, said.

‘The electronic countermeasures here can’t tell us whether an explosive device detonated or not. It’s very, very difficult.’

Based on the altitude and speed, it was probably a drone, he said, ‘though we can’t say at this stage exactly what kind of drone it was or where it was launched from.’

Some Western officials have argued that Moscow’s targeting of European states has increased in recent months as the front line in Ukraine has become largely static.

Countries close to Russia including Poland, Lithuania and Romania have confirmed various violations, but the Kremlin’s shadow war has also spread throughout the continent.

Tactics have included attempted assassinations and the use of nerve agents such as Novichok, as well as radiological weapons such as Polonium-210.

The use of drones has been prevalent, such as the explosive on a drone found at Leipzig Airport, alongside unexplained drone activity near Ireland, over US Air Force bases in the UK and above critical infrastructure and military sites across Germany, Denmark, Sweden and other European countries.

There have also been direct threats against the CEOs of arms companies in Scandinavia and Germany, as well as threats against British companies helping to supply Ukraine.

And cyber attacks and the sabotage of undersea communication cables have become another increasingly prominent tool in Russia’s arsenal.

Military experts recently warned that Russia ‘absolutely’ has the ability to launch drones deep into European nations.

While analysts widely believe that Putin wouldn’t dare stage a direct attack on Europe, the Kremlin has been steadily developing a series of secret bases – capable of firing high-powered suicide drones across the continent.

Some of the sites are already being used to obliterate Ukrainian infrastructure, though Moscow could also deploy its rapidly-developing technology to attack Europe in the event of war.

Russia has been busy building new launch pads for its most advanced long-range suicide drones at 10 bases, according to the Telegraph.

The Kremlin has also constructed at least 59 new launch rails – mechanical guide tracks used in the takeoff of fixed-wing drones in lieu of a traditional runway – along Russia’s border with Belarus and Ukraine.

The latest Russian drone models, named Geran-4 and Geran-5, can fly fast enough to evade air defence systems while carrying a 90kg payload, according to Ukrainian government documents leaked online.