Islam Times – Russia will adjust its nuclear posture if nuclear weapons are deployed in Lithuania and directed at Russia, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov warned on Friday.“If you host nuclear weapons, they are aimed at somebody. Those won’t be aimed to the west. They will be aimed to the east, i.e. at us,” Peskov said in a televised interview. He added that Russian nuclear weapons would consequently be “aimed at” the country hosting them.
Lithuania is currently moving to remove a constitutional ban on hosting weapons of mass destruction, with President Gitanas Nauseda describing the restriction as outdated. The proposed amendment could be approved as early as this winter.
Lithuanian media has linked the constitutional reform to a possible EU nuclear-sharing arrangement. France, the bloc’s only nuclear-armed state, is considering deploying some of its weapons to other EU member states.
NATO already operates a nuclear-sharing arrangement under which US nuclear bombs are hosted by several non-nuclear members, including Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Türkiye, and the UK.
Earlier this week, a Lithuanian parliamentary committee approved the proposed constitutional amendment, with two lawmakers voting against. The opposition has called for a referendum, while Nauseda’s government argues that parliamentary approval is sufficient. Constitutional amendments require two parliamentary votes at least three months apart.
The current provision also prohibits foreign military bases and was originally introduced to safeguard Lithuania’s neutrality following the collapse of the Soviet Union. Lithuania joined NATO in 2004 alongside Latvia and Estonia, while Germany is currently working to deploy a heavy tank brigade in the country.
Moscow has repeatedly described NATO’s expansion toward Russia’s borders as a major source of tensions with the US-led military alliance.
Russia considers the forward deployment of nuclear-capable weapons near its territory particularly dangerous because it reduces the time available to determine whether a detected launch is a false alarm or an actual attack requiring a nuclear response.