Russia has reiterated it would not accept Finland or Sweden joining NATO, after the Ukraine war brought the two militarily non-aligned countries to the brink of joining the trans-Atlantic alliance.
Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov made the comments to reporters on Monday, relayed through state-owned news agency TASS.
He was discussing the news of Sweden’s ruling party approving the country’s bid to join NATO on Sunday, as well as Finnish politicians calling for their country to join the alliance “without delay.”
“All this is a reflection absolutely false and distorted perception of what is happening in the world by political circles in the West, and, in particular, in the countries of Northern Europe,” Ryabkov said.
“The fact that the security of Sweden, like Finland, for that matter, will not be strengthened as a result of this decision, is completely obvious to us. And in what form we will ensure our security after changing this general NATO configuration is a separate question,” he added, saying it will depend on what will be the result of the two Nordic countries’ intention to join the alliance.
“They [NATO] should not have any illusions that we will simply put up with this—in Brussels, Washington, and other NATO capitals. That is, the general level of military tension will increase, and there will be less predictability in this area.”
This is a developing story.