“They keep nuclear weapons, delivery vehicles, have warehouses there. The international community and the region’s countries are perfectly aware of that… It is means of intimidation,” he told BNS on Thursday.

“Russia’s current threats look rather strange in particular as we know that, leaving the current security situation aside, they keep those weapons at a distance of 100 kilometers from Lithuania’s border,” he added.

“Nuclear weapons have always been kept in the Kaliningrad region,” Anusauskas said.

Reuters on Thursday quoted Dmitry Medvedev, Russia’s former president and prime minister and current deputy chairman of the country’s Security Council, as saying that Sweden and Finland joining the NATO would result in Moscow going back on its commitments not to deploy nuclear weapons in the Baltic Sea region.

“There can be no more talk of any nuclear-free status for the Baltic [region] – the balance must be restored,” he said.

“Until today, Russia has not taken such measures and was not going to,” he added.

The war unleashed by Russia in Ukraine has drastically swayed the opinion of the public and policymakers in Finland and neighboring Sweden in favour of membership in defense organizations. Now the two countries mull joining NATO and may apply for membership in the Alliance in the near future.

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