Latvia's president says nuclear weapons could be deployed in the country if NATO decides

Latvian President Edgars Rinkēvičs has said that national legislation poses no obstacle to stationing nuclear weapons in Latvia, should NATO decide to do so and the need arise. He stated that there are no legal barriers under current Latvian law that would prevent such a move. At the same time, he stressed that no specific negotiations on deploying nuclear weapons in Latvia are underway at present.

Britain's proposal and Lithuania's move

The statement comes amid broader regional developments involving nuclear deterrence. On September 29, Britain proposed extending its nuclear umbrella to cover the Baltic and Nordic countries. Under the proposal, an additional deterrent would operate independently of NATO structures, with British nuclear submarines playing a central role.

In mid-September, Lithuania's parliament backed a bill to lift the country's constitutional ban on hosting nuclear weapons. During debate over the legislation, the Kremlin warned that Lithuania would find itself "in the crosshairs" of Russian nuclear weapons if it went ahead with hosting a nuclear arsenal.

Russia's warning over Kaliningrad

On September 30, it emerged that Russia had sent NATO a document warning it could resort to nuclear weapons if there were an attempt to "isolate the Kaliningrad region from the rest of the country." Taken together, these developments point to rising tension over nuclear weapons policy in the Baltic Sea region, where several NATO member states have recently discussed the possibility of hosting nuclear arms on their territory in response to growing concerns about Russia.