A Russian politician has issued a “final warning” to NATO members, who have been accused with no evidence of allowing Ukraine to fly its drones over their territory in order to carry out strikes against Russia’s targets. The secretary of Vladimir Putin’s security council, Sergei Shoigu, has warned of Russia’s “inherent right” to self-defence, implying Moscow could launch military strikes against Finland, Estonia, Latvia or Lithuania.
All four states have vigorously denied giving permission to Ukraine to use their airspace – yet Russia keeps repeating the accusation and could use it as a pretext to attack these states, which are all covered by NATO’s Article 5 collective defence umbrella. Army general Shoigu was the man who, serving as defence minister at the time, led Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. It comes as Russia issued warnings to Finland about permitting nuclear weapons on its territory.
“Recently, there have been increasingly frequent cases of attacks by Ukrainian drones on Russia via Finland and the Baltic states,” Shoigu alleged. “As a result, civilians suffer and significant damage is caused to civilian infrastructure.”
Either western air defences were “highly ineffective… or the states in question are deliberately providing their airspace, that is, acting as direct accomplices in aggression against Russia”.
He insisted: “In the latter case, in accordance with international law, Article 51 of the UN Charter on the inherent right of states to self-defence in the event of an armed assault comes into force.”
Hardline MP Andrei Kolesnik said Shoigu was issuing a “final” warning, with Putin’s authority, and the Baltic states should not make the “mistake” of acting with “impunity” against Russia.
At the same time, Sweden’s chief of defence, Michael Claesson, has warned that Russia is scheming to occupy an island belonging to a Western state in the Baltic Sea in a test against NATO. Among the larger islands that could be threatened are Sweden’s Gotland, Denmark’s Bornholm or Estonia’s Hiiumaa and Saaremaa. Military strikes on a NATO state or the invasion of a Baltic island could trigger the alliance’s mutual defence pact – and signal the start of World War 3.
Russia stoked more tension with its ambassador in Helsinki, Pavel Kuznetsov, warning: “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 defence ministry’s so-called Doomsday Radio – seen as linked to the country’s nuclear forces – posted the sinister coded message “MEAT GRINDER”.
