Parliament supports the government’s proposal to join NATO. The Russian Deputy Foreign Minister called the plans “another serious mistake with far-reaching consequences”.
Sweden wants Nato-Become a member. The Swedish Prime Minister said the country would apply to be included in the defense alliance Magdalena Andersson on Monday in Stockholm. Previously, almost all parties in Parliament had expressed their support for an application for membership. In Finland, too, there was a debate regarding the NATO membership application. Russia’s President Wladimir Putin then announced a “reaction” by Moscow.
The Social Democrats in power in Sweden already advocated an application to join the military alliance on Sunday. “There is much in Sweden worth defending, and Sweden is best defended in NATO,” Social Democrat Prime Minister Andersson said in parliament on Monday. “Finally we too can become a member of NATO,” said Ulf Kristersson, leader of the largest opposition party Moderaterna. The bourgeois party has long advocated Sweden’s application for NATO membership.
Another vote will follow in Finland
“Our security environment has changed fundamentally,” said the Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin before the deputies in Helsinki. “The only country that threatens European security and is now openly waging a war of aggression is Russia.” According to Finland’s Parliament President Matti Vanhanen, 150 requests to speak were planned, so a vote is not expected on Monday. Finland’s application for membership had already been officially approved on Sunday. Parliament’s approval is considered a formality.
Finland and Sweden are preparing to join the military alliance in response to Russia’s war of aggression once morest Ukraine. The government in Moscow once more voiced sharp criticism of the NATO plans of the two Scandinavian countries. If the two countries join NATO, it will “neither strengthen nor improve” security in Europe, said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov. Moscow will closely monitor the consequences of accession for Russia’s security. This must be “guaranteed absolutely unconditionally”. However, he also pointed out that, unlike in the relationship with Ukraine, Russia has no territorial disputes with Finland or Sweden.
Russia threatens
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin once once more declared that his country would react to the planned expansion of NATO to include Sweden and Finland. The expansion of NATO is a problem, says Putin in Moscow. Russia has no problems with the two Nordic countries. However, he will react to the expansion of the military infrastructure there. In addition, Russia must also keep in mind that NATO wants to expand its global influence.
Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov had previously described the accession plans as “another serious mistake with far-reaching consequences”. Russia’s reaction will depend “on the practical consequences of the two countries’ accession” to NATO, he said, according to Russian news agencies. According to the Deputy Foreign Minister, this step would radically change the global situation. Sweden and Finland should have no illusions that Russia would accept their decision so easily, says Ryabkov. If NATO assesses Russia as an “imminent threat,” then “we will create for them such an imminent threat to match that assessment,” Ryabkov added.
Estonia’s Foreign Minister Eva-Maria Liimets sees Finland and Sweden joining NATO as a way of strengthening security for her country and the entire Baltic region. “General security in our region would increase, especially in the Baltic Sea,” Liimets said in a Archyde.com TV interview published on Monday. In an expanded NATO, larger joint exercises might take place in the northern Baltic Sea region, and the Baltic countries would be easier to defend, she said, referring to the geographical proximity of the two Scandinavian countries to Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. NATO must support Ukraine on a permanent basis. Ultimately, the aim must be for Ukraine to be able to restore its territorial integrity. “That should be the ultimate goal,” said Liimets. This also applies to the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014, she said when asked.
Turkey’s concerns should be dispelled
Meanwhile, Sweden wants to send diplomats to Turkey to overcome reservations regarding its planned NATO membership. This is announced by Defense Minister Peter Hultqvist. One wants to clarify in dialogue how the problem can be solved and what it is really regarding, says Hultqvist TV broadcaster SVT. Turkey had objected to Sweden’s and Finland’s accession plans, referring, among other things, to the way the two countries deal with the Kurdish Workers’ Party PKK, which Turkey classifies as a terrorist organization. The government in Ankara is also demanding that the two countries lift their ban on the sale of certain weapons to Turkey.
Admission to NATO would be a historic turning point for Sweden and Finland following decades of alliance neutrality. A unanimous vote by NATO and the ratification of the alliance expansion by the parliaments of all 30 previous member states are required for their accession. At a meeting of foreign ministers in Berlin at the weekend, leading representatives of NATO and its member states promised Finland and Sweden a speedy admission process.
(APA/AFP/dpa/Archyde.com)