Russia today brought its nuclear weapons units and formations “to the highest levels of combat readiness” in military drills involving Iskander-M operational-tactical missiles. This came amid an angry war of words with NATO state Lithuania over fears of a Putin military operation in the Baltic.

Alliance fighters were scrambled in Lithuania today amid reported drone incursions from Russian ally Belarus which is currently involved in the nuclear drills with Kremlin forces. The airport in Lithuanian capital Vilnius was closed, and an air raid warning issued with children taken to shelters. An airborne alert was issued for residents of the Ignalina, Utena, Švenčionys, and Zarasai districts.

The National Crisis Management Centre (NCMC) said the “yellow alert” was “similar to what we have observed in Latvia and Estonia in recent days – warning the population is a standard preventative measure”.

It was only last week that Russia announced it had ‘successfully tested’ its deadly Sarmat nuclear-capable rocket. Russia’s Satan-2 doomsday missile will be capable of carrying four times the payload of comparable Western systems, according to Putin.

The Kremlin leader called Sarmat “the most powerful missile system in the world” and said it will soon be deployed on combat duty.

Amid the nuclear exercises there is a worrying flashpoint as Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov branded Lithuania’s foreign minister Kestutis Budrys “borderline insane” after he threatened that NATO could “raze Russian air defences and missile bases….to the ground” in the Kremlin’s Baltic region Kaliningrad in the event of Moscow’s aggression.

Western politicians were “rabid” and “maniacally anti-Russian”, said Peskov, warning darkly that such threats could backfire on them.

Russian foreign ministry mouthpiece Maria Zakharova accused Lithuania – which borders Kaliningrad – of “genuine suicidal paranoia” leading to “an absolutely self-destructive course”.

Russia and its neighbour Belarus are currently staging three-day nuclear missile tests in a clear warning to the West. Putin’s defence ministry said today: “Combat training missions are underway to obtain special munitions for the Iskander-M operational-tactical missile system, equip launch vehicles with them, and covertly advance to a designated position area in preparation for missile launches.

“During the manoeuvres, soldiers delivered nuclear munitions to field storage sites.

“Furthermore, joint training and use of nuclear weapons deployed in Belarus are being practiced.”

Other Putin mouthpieces piled in to warn NATO of a nuclear threat in the Baltic – where three small states, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, all border Russia.

Oligarch and propagandist Konstantin Malofeev said Russia’s “new nuclear doctrine was not adopted just for the sake of it.

“Now it allows for a retaliatory strike against the launch areas of enemy weapons. We believe that the [current nuclear] exercises are not a ‘last warning’, but a preparation for a real final strike with several of the more than 4,000 Russian warheads.

“Otherwise, there’s no point in them at all.” Russia is repeatedly – but falsely – accusing the Baltic states of allowing Ukraine to use their airspace for drones targeting Putin’s Leningrad region near St Petersburg.

“The de facto tacit provision of airspace for drone flights by neo-Nazis to carry out terrorist attacks against Russian civilians is fraught with the most serious consequences for these countries,” said loyalist Leonid Slutsky, leader of the ultranationalist Liberal Democratic Party of Russia.

The “hotheads” in the Baltics “are drawing fire not only upon themselves, but also on Europe as a whole,” he warned.

“In the event of a NATO attack on Kaliningrad, Putin would unleash his Armageddon weapons. Russia’s military and nuclear doctrines will inevitably come into play,” he said.

Latvian MEP Rihards Kols warned: “Moscow always accuses others of exactly what it intends to do itself.

“The Kremlin is preparing the information space. The goal is transparent: Russian intelligence will inevitably attempt to slip drones through the Baltic skies or stage a border incident.

“They already have a ready-made scenario to accuse Kyiv and implicate Riga as an accomplice.”