VILNIUS, April 14 — Russian threat to increase military in the Baltic region, including nuclear, is "nothing new”, Lithuania’s prime minister Ingrida Simonyte said today.

"That Russia threatens, it is nothing new,” she told reporters. "Kaliningrad is a very militarised zone, has been for many years, and it is in the Baltic region”.

Russia’s Kaliningrad exclave, on the shore of the Baltic Sea, is sandwiched between Nato members Lithuania and Poland.

One of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s closest allies warned Nato today that if Sweden and Finland joined the US-led military alliance then Russia would have to bolster its defences in the region, including by deploying nuclear weapons. — Reuters