Reuters. Russia's recent letter to NATO outlining its readiness to resort to nuclear weapons if the Western alliance attempted to cut off Kaliningrad should not be viewed as confrontational, the Kremlin said on Thursday, adding that Moscow's objective was to ensure the security of the Russian exclave on the Baltic Sea.
In a document sent to NATO and seen by Reuters, Moscow accused the alliance of a "dangerous and reckless course" that entailed "high risks of the outbreak of a direct armed conflict."
The document said this included the possibility of "Russian strikes against decision-making centres in the alliance's member states right from the outset".
"Russia will be ready to use the entire arsenal of forces and capabilities at its disposal, including nuclear weapons, in order to defend its territory should NATO countries undertake any attempt aimed at isolating the Kaliningrad Region from the rest of the country," the diplomatic note said.
In 2007, in a speech at the annual Munich security conference, Russian President Vladimir Putin criticised the unipolar world order dominated by the US, and opposed NATO's eastward expansion and US missile defence plan for Eastern Europe.
Putin's address in Munich was viewed as a significant shift away from Moscow's cooperative post-Soviet engagement with the West toward a confrontational and independent foreign policy stance.
