Le Figaro gives the Kremlin's nuclear warning to Lithuania no cause; Digi24 says Vilnius's constitutional move prompted it

The warning. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday that if nuclear weapons are deployed in Lithuania, it becomes a target of Russian nuclear forces. Le Figaro and Digi24 both report this. They agree on what he said.

The split. They disagree on why he said it.

The headlines. Le Figaro says the Kremlin "promet" (promises) to put Lithuania in its sights, and keeps the condition. Digi24's headline drops the condition that its own body carries. It then promises to say what provoked Moscow.

What is not settled. - Whether Lithuania has acted. Digi24 describes "readiness" to change the constitution, not a vote or a bill. We hold no Lithuanian report. - What Vilnius says. Neither report quotes a Lithuanian official. - Whether any deployment is planned. Neither report says one is. - The Le Figaro text we hold is one quoted sentence. We cannot say what the rest of its article carries.

What this is about. Whether Lithuania — a small state on Russia's western edge — could come to host nuclear weapons, and what Moscow says it would do about it.

How it got here. Lithuania was a Soviet republic until it declared independence in 1990, recognised by Moscow in 1991. It joined both NATO and the European Union in 2004. It borders Belarus, Russia's closest ally, and Kaliningrad, the Russian exclave on the Baltic; the narrow strip of Polish-Lithuanian border between the two is the land link between the Baltic states and the rest of the alliance. On restoring independence, Lithuania put into constitutional law a bar on foreign military bases and weapons of mass destruction on its territory. That clause is the one at issue: Digi24 reports Vilnius is ready to remove it.

Russia invaded Ukraine in full on 24 February 2022, and NATO has reinforced its eastern members since. In 2023 Moscow announced it was stationing tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus. The United States has long kept nuclear weapons in several western European NATO states under alliance arrangements; none are in the Baltic states.

Who is in it. Dmitry Peskov speaks for the Kremlin and for President Vladimir Putin; this desk has reported his statements repeatedly this month, on Hungary, on gas, and on a drone near Moldova. Lithuania's government in Vilnius decides whether the clause stays, and neither report we hold quotes it. Le Figaro is a French daily; Digi24 is a Romanian broadcaster. Both countries are EU and NATO members.

What is at stake. If the clause goes, Lithuania removes its own legal obstacle to hosting allied nuclear weapons. Peskov's warning sets out what Moscow says follows.

Where it stands. Peskov spoke on Friday. What we hold describes a readiness to change the constitution, not a vote or a bill, and neither report says any deployment is planned.