Putin Raises Nuclear Threat Over Kaliningrad, Says Russia Monitors Arms Factories in Europe

Russian President Vladimir Putin warned that a direct attack on Russia or Kaliningrad exclave would immediately raise the question of using all of Moscow’s weapons, including nuclear, days after Russia previously threatened NATO over the exclave. Speaking during the annual Valdai Discussion Club forum, Putin also said Russia was monitoring European factories that are producing weapons for Ukraine.JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official. “If it comes to a direct attack on Russia, on Kaliningrad, the question of using all the weapons we have will immediately arise,” Putin said, according to translated excerpts published by Clash Report. “No one currently has weapons like those possessed by Russia,” he claimed. Insisting that Moscow will not attack Europe Putin reiterated that Moscow has no initiative to attack Europe, even as Russian drone incursions, airspace violations and sabotage campaigns increase across the EU. His claims came a week after a Russian military helicopter violated Polish airspace and two days after Estonia concluded that Russian intelligence ordered an arson attack on a defense company supplying Ukraine. “We don’t intend to attack anyone in 2029, in 2030, or 2050, but if we are attacked, we will have to respond,” he said, adding that “citizens of European countries should be fully aware of that.” Yet, the First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on CIS Affairs, Viktor Vodolatsky, called for mandatory military training to begin in fifth grade, arguing that Russia must prepare its youth for a possible war with NATO and the EU by 2030. Other Topics of Interest Sledgehammer for Putin Congress gave Trump a 30-day window to impose crushing sanctions on Russia unless Putin agrees to peace talks. Will he use it, or keep courting Moscow? From Sept. 1, Russia has already expanded military training for children, including in occupied Ukrainian territories, and raised the share of mandatory instruction to 50% of school time. During the same address, he said that arms production for Ukraine remains a threat to Moscow and that the Kremlin is monitoring them closely. “I am not saying that we are going to strike enterprises in the countries supplying weapons to Ukraine, but this is a threat,” Putin said. In August, Bloomberg reported that the Kremlin increasingly views Ukrainian strikes as an attack from NATO itself, particularly because alliance members supply Kyiv with weapons and intelligence. Speaking about nuclear weapons, Putin cited a principle associated with Russian writer Anton Chekhov; “If a gun is hanging on the stage, sooner or later it must go off,” he said, repeating the Kremlin’s long-standing claims that the war “was started against us.” Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and has so far rejected every proposal for a direct meeting or a possible ceasefire. Why Kaliningrad matters Putin’s assurances contrast with a series of direct threats from Moscow against NATO and its members in recent weeks. On Monday, Sept. 28, Russia’s embassy in Belgium said it had delivered a position to NATO’s International Secretariat and Belgium’s Foreign Ministry warning that Moscow was ready to deploy its entire arsenal if alliance members tried to isolate Kaliningrad. The embassy accused NATO of an “aggressive policy” without specifying which actions prompted the warning. NATO spokesperson Allison Hart said that the alliance had responded to Moscow’s informal diplomatic document by reiterating that NATO is an exclusively defensive alliance, simultaneously condemning Moscow’s “irresponsible nuclear rhetoric.” The exclave Russia seeks to “protect” is wedged between Lithuania and Poland, both NATO members, and is connected to Russia only by sea. However, it is Russia’s only ice-free Baltic port, which may be particularly important due to Western sanctions imposed on Russia and its shadow fleet vessels. Kaliningrad also hosts the headquarters of the Baltic Fleet and has Iskander missiles with a range of about 500 kilometers (about 311 miles). The Suwałki Gap, a roughly 65-kilometer (40 miles) stretch of the Polish-Lithuanian border separating Kaliningrad from Belarus remains a big concern for NATO. Should a conflict emerge, Russian forces could try to seize the corridor and cut the Baltic states off from allied reinforcements. Further threats aimed at NATO and the Baltics Earlier on Thursday, Russia has also accused the alliance of a reckless course carrying a high risk of direct armed conflict and threatened to strike “decision-making centers” in member countries. On Sept. 11, former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev threatened that Lithuania would “disappear from the map” if it lifted its ban on nuclear weapons, claiming NATO would not invoke Article 5 to defend the country as that would mean a “global catastrophe.” Two weeks later, Putin repeated unfounded claims about the mistreatment of Russian-speaking minorities in the Baltic states, the same grievance the Kremlin used to justify its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The string of latest threats has raised fears that the Kremlin may be seeking a justification for a direct attack on the Baltic states. Separately, President Volodymyr Zelensky has warned that Russia could directly attack another European country, including through a limited ground incursion. Speaking during a summit in Brussels on Wednesday, Sept. 30, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte condemned Moscow’s rhetoric. NATO’s combined strength exceeds Russia’s, he said, adding that he does not take the nuclear threats seriously. Kyiv Post is Ukraine’s first and oldest English news organization, reporting since 1995. Its international reach – 97% of readers are outside of Ukraine – make it truly Ukraine’s global voice.