Moscow is lowering the threshold for the use of nuclear weapons and strengthening its infrastructure less than 300 km from Sweden’s border, EurActiv.com reports. 

Russia has significantly intensified the construction and modernization of nuclear facilities near Sweden, particularly in Kaliningrad, Belarus, and the Arctic, according to new satellite imagery.

“We are closely monitoring Russian capabilities in this area. It is about both Russian investments in nuclear weapons capability and the development of a new doctrine,” said Swedish Defense Minister Pål Jonson.

Key developments include:

• Kaliningrad base – new fencing, communications systems, and up to 100 tactical nuclear weapons
• Asipovichy, Belarus – reinforced storage facilities and improved transport logistics
• Kola Peninsula and Novaya Zemlya – new underground storage for sea-launched missiles

In November 2024, the Kremlin revised its nuclear doctrine to permit the use of nuclear weapons not only in response to a nuclear strike, but also in cases of any “critical threat,” including conventional attacks supported by NATO countries. Such strikes can now be interpreted as “joint aggression” against Russia or Belarus.

These changes, along with Russia’s withdrawal from key arms control treaties, are creating a dangerous precedent, with Moscow increasingly using nuclear rhetoric to intimidate the West.

“Russia has lowered the threshold for threatening to use nuclear weapons, and we have seen since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine that it has done so more than 200 times at different political levels,” Jonson emphasized.

Earlier, expert Oleksii Izhak said that Russia was creating a risk for its nuclear force with its own hands. By deploying elements of its nuclear triad in the war against Ukraine, it is turning its strategic delivery systems into legitimate military targets, including strategic aviation.