Putin Says Russia Will Use Every Weapon to Defend Kaliningrad
Addressing the Valdai foreign policy forum, Vladimir Putin said Russia would use all the weapons at its disposal if it judged its Baltic exclave had come under direct attack. He insisted Russia was “not threatening anyone” and was merely answering Western claims that Moscow is preparing for war in 2029 or 2030. It follows a written Russian warning sent to NATO earlier this week.
The memo came first and the president has now put his own name to it, which is the escalation. Moscow has spent the week accusing NATO of preparing to blockade the exclave, which borders Lithuania and Poland, and saying it would be prepared to use nuclear weapons if the West cut it off from the rest of Russia; the alliance has answered that it is defensive and asked Moscow to stop its “nuclear threats”. The backdrop is a run of hybrid incidents across Poland and the Baltics — a Russian helicopter straying into Polish territory last week, drones entering Lithuanian airspace, and Lithuania saying its people feel “constantly threatened”. Germany is bracing for more of it: Friedrich Merz said on Thursday that his country was preparing for further hybrid attacks, “including serious ones”, after a drone armed with explosives was found in August on the tarmac at Leipzig airport, close to Ukrainian cargo aircraft. Poland’s looser rules on engaging airborne threats took effect today. Watch whether any ally formally requests alliance consultations.