In a dramatic escalation of rhetoric, Russian officials have warned that NATO’s newly unveiled Baltic deterrence plans—especially comments by U.S. General Christopher Donahue about the ability to quickly capture Kaliningrad—could spark a global conflict. Russia views any attack on Kaliningrad, its heavily fortified exclave nestled between Poland and Lithuania, as equivalent to an attack on its sovereign territory. 

Top Russian leaders, including Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Leonid Slutsky and former President Dmitry Medvedev, have threatened nuclear retaliation, calling the plan a blueprint for World War III. This development highlights growing instability in the region, particularly around the strategic Suwałki Gap, and raises concerns over the risk of a NATO-Russia confrontation turning into an all-out war.