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Russian lawmaker urges Rutte not to hurl threats at world's largest nuclear power

Leonid Slutsky emphasized the dangers of such rhetoric, noting that issuing such threats is profoundly reckless

MOSCOW, February 12. /TASS/. NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte’s recent warning of a "crushing response" should the Suwalki Gap be blocked was shortsighted, according to Leonid Slutsky, Chairman of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs and leader of Russia’s Liberal Democratic Party.

In an interview with TASS, Slutsky emphasized the dangers of such rhetoric, stating, "A 'crushing response,' or more accurately, an attack on Russia, would provoke equally devastating countermeasures. Issuing such threats to the world’s largest nuclear power is profoundly reckless."

The Suwalki Gap, a critical 64-kilometer stretch along the Lithuanian-Polish border adjacent to Russia’s Kaliningrad and Belarus’s Grodno regions, holds strategic significance. Its closure could effectively isolate Lithuania from its Western NATO allies.

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