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Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia would target Lithuania with nuclear weapons if it deployed its own nuclear arsenal on its territory, speaking in an interview with Russian state television. The remark reflects escalating rhetoric between Moscow and NATO's Baltic members. The threats intensified further when Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev warned that Lithuania could be "wiped off the map" if U.S. nuclear weapons were deployed there, while also claiming NATO would not invoke its Article 5 mutual defense clause to protect the country. The escalating statements from senior Russian officials mark a sharp rise in nuclear-tinged rhetoric directed at the Baltic states.