Moscow threatens nuclear response over tiny fortress wedged between US allies as clash fears grow

Russias 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.

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.

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 Moscows Baltic Fleet.

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The Russian document also raised the possibility of strikes against "decision-making centers" in NATO member states from the outset of a conflict.

NATO rejected Moscows 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. The alliance also urged Russia to stop its "irresponsible nuclear rhetoric."

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.

"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. "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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"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, U.S. and NATO air drills near Kaliningrad last month and heightened tensions over the war in 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.

"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.

Dr. Azeem Ibrahim, a research professor at the Strategic Studies Institute at the U.S. 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 Moscows confrontation with Europe.

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