(Dan Tri) – Officials in Lithuania, a NATO country, warned of consequences if Russia challenges the military alliance led by the US.

Russian warships in the Kaliningrad region (Photo: Reuters).

Lithuanian Ambassador to Sweden Linas Linkevicius warned that Western countries will `neutralize` Russia’s westernmost Kaliningrad region if Moscow poses a serious danger to NATO’s security.

Writing on the X platform on February 27, Mr. Linkevicius, announced that the Baltic Sea had become NATO’s sea after Sweden had overcome all barriers to join the military alliance.

In the post, Mr. Linkevicius warned that `if Russia dares to challenge NATO, Kaliningrad will be neutralized first.`

Responding to Mr. Linkevicius’s comments, Alexandr Shenderyuk-Zhidkov, a Russian senator from the Kaliningrad Region, commented that Lithuanian politicians have long been `waging a virtual war` against this territory.

Mr. Shenderyuk-Zhidkov said that the Kaliningrad local government does not pay much attention to such statements.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly stated that Moscow has no plans to attack NATO, emphasizing that Russia has `no geopolitical, economic or military interest` in doing so.

Kaliningrad is one of Russia’s 46 administrative regions, but is separate from other regions of the country.

Kaliningrad is located separately from other Russian regions and borders two NATO members, Poland and Lithuania (Photo: TRT).

According to Asia Times, Kaliningrad is a territory of great importance because it is likened to Russia’s `unsinkable aircraft carrier` in the heart of NATO.

In addition, Kaliningrad also borders the 60km long Suwalki corridor, connecting Poland with the Baltic countries.

In recent years, Russia has modernized and strengthened its forces in Kaliningrad.

`Kaliningrad is like a fortress on the Baltic Sea, with lots of cruise missiles and other weapons, so it’s a threat,` said Steven Wills, a researcher with the Center for Naval Analyses.

Kaliningrad’s strategic location makes it a threat to NATO and also a weakness for Russia, said expert Dmitry Gorenburg.

On the other hand, St.

With Finland and Sweden joining NATO, the Gulf of Finland area will become a bottleneck if a conflict scenario occurs.

Additionally, NATO’s control of the Denmark Strait – which connects the Baltic Sea to the Atlantic Ocean and borders Denmark, Sweden and Norway – would allow the alliance to further limit the activities of its Sea Fleet.