Moscow threatens nuclear response over tiny fortress wedged between US allies as clash fears grow
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fears → threaten → allies
Russia’s warning that it could resort to nuclear weapons if NATO attempts to isolate Kaliningrad is raising new concerns that the heavily militarized Russian exclave could become a flashpoint between Moscow and the alliance, as experts warn the territory is already being used to pressure Europe through hybrid warfare.
uncertain
territory → resort → warfare
Moscow warned NATO in a diplomatic document that it was prepared to use “the entire arsenal of forces and capabilities at its disposal, including nuclear weapons” if alliance members attempted to isolate Kaliningrad from the rest of Russia, Reuters reported Wednesday.
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Reuters → warn → Russia
Kaliningrad, a Russian territory geographically separated from the Russian mainland, sits on the Baltic Sea between NATO members Poland and Lithuania and hosts significant Russian military assets, including elements of Moscow’s Baltic Fleet.
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Kaliningrad → separate → Fleet
The Russian document also raised the possibility of strikes against “decision-making centers” in NATO member states from the outset of a conflict.
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document → raise → conflict
NATO rejected Moscow’s allegations in a response reviewed by Fox News Digital, saying the alliance is defensive and that none of its exercises or activities threaten Russian territory.
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none → reject → territory
Carrie Filipetti, executive director of the Vandenberg Coalition, a nonpartisan network of foreign policy leaders, told Fox News Digital that Moscow has repeatedly used nuclear threats as a means of trying to deter Western support for Ukraine.
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Moscow → tell → Ukraine
“Russia has threatened to use nuclear weapons in the past, including veiled references to tactical nuclear attacks at the beginning of Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, lowering their formal threshold for launching a nuclear attack in 2024, placing Russia’s nuclear forces on high alert, and restarting nuclear testing,” Filipetti said.
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Filipetti → threaten → testing
“It is very common for Putin to use these threats, because he sees it as a way to deter Europe and the United States from continuing to support Ukraine.”
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he → use → Ukraine
“The threat about a nuclear attack if Kaliningrad is threatened or isolated comes on the heels of a few developments,” she added, pointing to NATO jets being scrambled over Russian aircraft, US and NATO air drills near Kaliningrad last month, and heightened tensions over the war in Ukraine.
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jets → threaten → Ukraine
Filipetti, who also served as a deputy assistant secretary at the State Department and as a senior policy advisor for the United States Mission to the United Nations (USUN), argued that the timing also reflects mounting pressure on Moscow as the war continues.
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war → serve → Moscow
“Putin seems to understand that the tide is turning against him, and he’s resorting to aggressive rhetoric to try to stop European support for Ukraine as he has tried to do in the past,” she said.
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she → seem → past
Dr. Azeem Ibrahim, a research professor at the Strategic Studies Institute at the US Army War College and chief strategy officer at the New Lines Institute, told Fox News Digital that NATO should take the warning seriously, particularly because of the broader role Kaliningrad is already playing in Moscow’s confrontation with Europe.
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Kaliningrad → tell → Europe
Ibrahim argued that while NATO has traditionally prepared for conventional military conflict involving “tanks and troops and divisions,” Russia is increasingly using methods designed to disrupt the infrastructure and systems on which civilian societies depend.
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societies → argue → which
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Report → start → news
“Russia is actually adopting a very different approach,” he said, describing a strategy of hybrid warfare targeting “infrastructure” and “societies in general — what keeps societies functioning.”
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what → adopt → societies
Ibrahim described Kaliningrad as the “front line” of that effort.
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Ibrahim → describe → effort
“It’s essentially become a Russian fortress,” he said.
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he → become → ?
“This is essentially a front-line operation of the Russians in terms of signals intelligence, signals interference and essentially mechanisms by which to carry out this hybrid warfare.”
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This → carry → warfare
Such interference, Ibrahim said, could play a role in the broader confrontation by disrupting civilian communications and infrastructure before or alongside a conventional military attack.
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Ibrahim → say → attack
“All of that would be preceded by interference operations like this to ensure that societies are not functioning, are not able to respond to emergency services, the news information services, etc.,” Ibrahim said.
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Ibrahim → precede → services
“So governments lose control over what actually makes societies function.”
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societies → lose → control
The challenge for NATO, he said, is that such operations can be more difficult to attribute than a conventional assault.
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operations → say → assault
“Many times, you cannot trace exactly where a lot of this interference is actually coming from — attacks on power stations or internet and telecommunications, et cetera,” Ibrahim said.
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Ibrahim → trace → stations
“There’s always some sort of plausible deniability if it’s done by an actor who’s very capable.”
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who → ’ → actor
The ambiguity, Ibrahim argued, presents a challenge for an alliance built around collective defense against armed attack.
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Ibrahim → argue → attack
“NATO really does have to kind of reconfigure its posture to understand that these kinds of attacks are equivalent to essentially any sort of kinetic attack,” he said.
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he → have → attack
Asked what NATO and neighboring Poland and Lithuania should do following Russia’s warning, Ibrahim called for the alliance to establish clearer consequences for hybrid attacks.
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alliance → ask → attacks
“We now need to start going on the offensive in terms of hybrid warfare and understanding the threat and pushing back and sending a very clear signal to Moscow that such threats will not stand,” he said, arguing that a sufficiently serious hybrid attack should be considered capable of triggering NATO’s Article 5 collective-defense clause.
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attack → need → clause
Lithuania, which directly borders Kaliningrad, rejected Moscow’s warning and accused Russia of trying to undermine NATO unity and Western support for Ukraine.
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which → border → Ukraine
“Russia’s insinuations and threats have no basis.
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insinuations → have → basis
NATO is a defensive alliance and poses no threat to Russia or any other country,” Lithuania’s Foreign Ministry told Fox News Digital.
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Ministry → pose → Digital
“Russia’s threatening is intended to fracture transatlantic unity and impede our support to Ukraine.
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threatening → threaten → Ukraine
Russia will not achieve its goals.”
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Russia → achieve → goals
The ministry added: “We strongly condemn any threats to use force and irresponsible nuclear rhetoric.
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We → add → force
Russia must stop its aggression against Ukraine…
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Russia → stop → Ukraine
Lithuania is strengthening its national defense system and capabilities, including air defense,” the ministry said.
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ministry → strengthen → defense
“We train with our allies and work alongside NATO forces deployed in Lithuania.
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We → train → Lithuania
We are prepared to defend every inch of NATO territory and respond to any threats.”
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We → prepare → threats
The ministry said Lithuania would also continue providing “comprehensive support to Ukraine and its fight against the aggressor Russia.”
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Lithuania → say → aggressor
…and 13 more, not listed.
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