Jens Asbjørn Bøgen
Nuclear signaling across the Baltic Sea sharpened this week on both sides at once.
Latvia has become the most explicit Baltic state yet to declare it would accept the deployment of NATO nuclear weapons on its soil.
Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday, September 30, Latvian President Edgars Rinkēvičs said the country’s legal framework poses no barrier to such a move, if the alliance ever decided one was needed.
“We have no legally established obstacles in our laws to the deployment of nuclear weapons in Latvia,” Rinkēvičs told reporters, according to Latvia-based outlet BNN.
He added: “If such a need arises and if NATO makes such a collective decision, nuclear weapons will be deployed in Latvia.”
Rinkēvičs stressed that no specific talks on stationing warheads in Latvia are currently underway and that the comments were a statement of principle, not of plans.
He also noted that Latvia’s constitution contains no prohibition on hosting such weapons, unlike neighboring Lithuania, whose Article 137 bars them and is in the process of being revised.
British umbrella over the JEF
The statement came one day after Britain offered to extend its national nuclear deterrent to nine partners in the Joint Expeditionary Force, a UK-led rapid-reaction coalition that includes the three Baltic states, the Nordics and the Netherlands.
First Sea Lord Admiral Sir Gwyn Jenkins told Finnish newspaper Iltalehti that “Finland is under the nuclear umbrella” and that the guarantee is carried by British submarines “patrolling the Atlantic right now.”
London retains sole authority over any launch decision, which stays with the UK prime minister. The offer links Britain’s sovereign deterrent, built around Vanguard-class ballistic missile submarines, to the JEF framework for the first time, rather than granting partners any share of control.
Moscow’s “non-paper” on Kaliningrad
On the same day as Rinkēvičs spoke, Moscow handed NATO an informal diplomatic note threatening to use nuclear weapons if the alliance tried to cut off Kaliningrad, Russia’s heavily militarized exclave wedged between Poland and Lithuania.
In the document, reported by Reuters and other outlets, Russia said it would use “the entire arsenal of forces and capabilities at its disposal, including nuclear weapons” to defend its territory, and warned of possible strikes against “decision-making centers” in NATO states.
NATO rejected the framing. In a written reply, the alliance said “none of NATO’s exercises or activities pose a threat to the territory of the Russian Federation” and urged Moscow to “cease its irresponsible nuclear rhetoric.” Secretary-General Mark Rutte publicly called on Russia to stop its nuclear threats, saying the memo was unhelpful.
A sharper line from Riga
Riga’s position marks a notable break from the ambiguity Western European capitals have long kept around nuclear sharing. Latvia already sits under NATO’s nuclear umbrella, backed by US and UK warheads, and Rinkēvičs framed the British JEF offer as a welcome additional layer of security for the region.
Latvia and the other JEF members are expected to sign a new military agreement in November in Oslo, where the UK-led coalition is set to formalize its expanded role in the High North, the North Atlantic and the Baltic Sea.
