(SERGEI ILNITSKY/)
The accession of Finland and Sweden to NATO would have “consequences” for these countries and for European security, the Russian Foreign Ministry warned on Friday. Finland said this week that it will decide whether to apply for NATO membership in a few weeks, and Sweden is also discussing joining the alliance.
“The choice is up to the authorities of Sweden and Finland. But they must understand the consequences of such a step for our bilateral relations and for the European security architecture as a whole,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a statement.
He added that it is “unlikely that Sweden and Finland’s membership in NATO will contribute to strengthening (their) international prestige.”
Zakharova noted that the non-alignment policy of the two countries “provided a reliable level of security,” while membership in a military alliance “is not able to strengthen their national security.”
“They will automatically meet on the NATO front,” Zakharova said.
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Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev warned on Thursday that Russia would deploy nuclear weapons near the three Baltic states and Scandinavia if Finland or Sweden decided to join.
Finland’s approach to NATO, which could consummate its accession in June, has dragged Sweden, which in a few weeks has gone from seeing a hypothetical entry into the alliance unlikely to become an increasingly realistic option.
Just a month ago, when the war between Ukraine and Russia had been going on for two weeks, the Swedish Prime Minister, the Social Democrat Magdalena Andersson, defended Sweden’s status as a NATO partner but not a member and considered that a possible income would further “destabilize” the situation.
Although the polls gave for the first time a majority of defenders of joining the alliance, both the Social Democrats, the party with the most seats, and the far-right Democrats of Sweden (SD), the third parliamentary force, were opposed to entry.
But the speed with which events have precipitated in neighbouring Finland, where there is speculation already with an entry before the June summit in Madrid, has shaken up the Swedish debate.
(With information from AFP and EFE)
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