Former Russian president threatens to wipe Lithuania "off the map" and says NATO will not defend it

Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev has claimed that Russia would wipe Lithuania "off the map" if nuclear weapons were deployed on its territory and that its NATO allies would not dare invoke Article 5 on collective defence.

Source: Medvedev during a visit to Russia's Northwestern Federal District, which borders Lithuania, as quoted by Russian propaganda media outlets

Details: Medvedev was responding to a constitutional initiative in Vilnius aimed at repealing a provision that bans the deployment of nuclear weapons on Lithuanian territory.

"They are doing this in vain," he said.

He also threatened a military response if nuclear weapons were deployed in the Baltic country.

"No one will come to their defence. Even if the place is reduced to scorched earth, no other country will go to war for them. And the well-known Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty – it will not be invoked, everyone recognises that. Because if it is invoked, it will be a global catastrophe, a planetary one. They are not fools. But Lithuania will disappear from the map," Medvedev said, once again resorting to apocalyptic threats.

Background:

• In June 2026, Lithuanian Defence Minister Robertas Kaunas said Vilnius was negotiating with the US over the possible deployment of US nuclear weapons in the Baltic country.
• In early July, Lithuania's parliament, the Seimas, began the procedure to repeal Article 137 of the Constitution, which prohibits the stationing of foreign military bases and deployment of nuclear weapons on Lithuanian territory.
• On 9 September, the Seimas Committee on Legal Affairs backed the initiative. Lithuanian Parliament Speaker Juozas Olekas stressed that the ban no longer reflects geopolitical realities and that the existing provision makes Lithuania an "outlier" among its Alliance partners when it comes to deterring Russian aggression.
• On 11 September, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov threatened Vilnius, saying that if nuclear weapons are deployed in Lithuania, the country will come under the sights of Russian nuclear weapons.
• Immediately afterwards, Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin claimed that Russia has "never threatened" Europeans and that suggestions of threats from Moscow were fabricated.

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