In a stark address at the Valdai foreign‑policy forum, President Vladimir Putin warned that Russia would use any weapon at its disposal – including nuclear arms – to defend its Baltic exclave, Kaliningrad, should the West threaten it.
Putin dismissed the accusations that Moscow was “threatening” anyone, insisting instead that any use of force would be strictly defensive. He accused NATO of preparing to blockade Kaliningrad, citing recent naval manoeuvres in the Baltic Sea that he said posed a direct threat to the enclave.
The Russian leader described a potential “direct attack” on the enclave or any other territories as a trigger for Russia’s full military response. He warned that citizens of European states should be fully aware that the Kremlin “has the weapons in its arsenal that we cannot match.”
The speech came amid a series of hybrid‑war incidents in the region, including a Russian helicopter that entered Polish airspace adjacent to Kaliningrad last week and drone incursions over Lithuania that left its population feeling “constantly threatened.” German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, meanwhile, warned of further hybrid attacks after an armed drone was discovered at a Leipzig airport last August.
Putin’s comments also touched on broader fears of a future nuclear exchange, arguing that automated and digitalised warfare could “hand‑pick humanity back into barbarity.” He called for a rewrite of warfare rules and cautioned that the presence of a nuclear weapon on a “theatre stage” was a certainty that could decide the outcome of any conflict.
NATO’s Secretary‑General Mark Rutte dismissed the Kremlin’s messaging as “absolutely not called for and not helpful,” clarifying that the alliance’s exercises do not pose a threat to Russia. Yet the Polish and Lithuanian governments remain on alert, with Lithuania’s prime minister announcing evacuation plans should Russia move to seize Lithuanian territory via the Suwalki Gap.
Images: The first shows President Putin speaking at the Valdai forum; the second displays a map of the Suwalki Gap highlighting the strategic importance of Kaliningrad in the Baltic region.
