A Russian politician has issued an “ultimate warning” to NATO members who have been accused, with no evidence, of allowing Ukraine to fly drones over their territory to carry out strikes against Russian targets. Sergei Shoigu, secretary of Vladimir Putin’s Security Council, has warned about Russia’s “inherent right” to self-defense, meaning Moscow could launch military strikes against Finland, Estonia, Latvia or Lithuania.
All four states have vehemently refused to allow Ukraine to use their airspace – yet Russia continues to repeat the accusation and could use it as a pretext to attack these states, all of which fall under NATO’s Article 5 collective defense umbrella. Army general Shoigu was the man who led Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 while serving as defense minister at the time. This came as Russia issued a warning to Finland about allowing nuclear weapons on its territory.
“Recently, there have been frequent cases of attacks by Ukrainian drones on Russia through Finland and the Baltic states,” Shoigu alleged. “As a result, civilians are inconvenienced and civilian infrastructure is significantly damaged.”
Either Western air defenses “were highly ineffective… or the states in question were deliberately providing their airspace, that is, acting as direct accomplices in aggression against Russia”.
He stressed: “In the latter case, in accordance with international law, Article 51 of the United Nations Charter applies to the inherent right of states to self-defence in the event of armed attack.”
Hard-line MP Andrei Kolesnik said Shoigu was issuing a “final” warning to Putin’s authority, and that the Baltic states should not make the “mistake” of acting against Russia with “impunity”.
At the same time, Sweden’s Defense Chief Michael Clason has warned that Russia is planning to capture an island belonging to a Western state in the Baltic Sea in a test against NATO. Larger islands that could be at risk include Sweden’s Gotland, Denmark’s Bornholm or Estonia’s Hiiumaa and Saaremaa. A military attack on a NATO state or invasion of a Baltic island could trigger the alliance’s mutual defense pact – and signal the beginning of World War 3.
Russia stoked further tensions with a warning from its ambassador in Helsinki, Pavel Kuznetsov: “The Finnish region of Lapland, home of Santa Claus, is being transformed into a training area for NATO units for combat in Arctic latitudes, a practice that has already raised legitimate concerns among local residents.”
Meanwhile, the Russian Defense Ministry’s so-called Doomsday Radio – believed to be linked to the country’s nuclear forces – posted the sinister coded message “Meat Grinder”.
