Russia reacts sharply to Lithuanian foreign minister's remarks on Kaliningrad exclave

BERLIN - Moscow has reacted sharply to comments by Lithuania regarding the military vulnerability of Russia's Baltic Sea exclave of Kaliningrad.

Speaking during a visit to Beijing on Wednesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov referred to "short-sighted politicians" in the Baltic states "who are steeped in Russophobia," according to the Russian news agency TASS.

Baltics leaders, Peskov said, are "downright delusionally anti-Russian," causing them to act against their own interests.

Lithuania's Foreign Minister Kestutis Budrys recently gave an interview with the Swiss newspaper Neue Zurcher Zeitung about the threat posed by Russia and Belarus. He advocated a robust deterrent by NATO.

Asked about neighboring Kaliningrad, he said: "We must show the Russians that we can penetrate the small fortress they have built in Kaliningrad. NATO has the means to raze the Russian air defence and missile bases there to the ground in an emergency."

This was a direct call to attack a sovereign country and undermines European stability, countered Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova.

The Russian region of Kaliningrad remains an important military base with missile systems capable of reaching the entire Baltic Sea region.

The remarks come amid a tense situation between the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania and Russia over numerous drone incidents.

These involve Ukrainian drones straying into Baltic airspace while approaching Russian targets in the Gulf of Finland.

Moscow accuses the Baltic states of allowing their territory to be used for Ukrainian attacks, an allegation firmly rejected by officials in the Baltic capitals.