President Vladimir Putin said on Monday that Russia does not consider the decision Finland and of Sweden to adhere to the OTAN as a threat, but that Moscow will react if there is a deployment of military infrastructure.
The entrance in the OTAN from Sweden y Finland does not represent “a direct threat to us (…) but the expansion of military infrastructure to these territories will certainly generate a response from us“, he claimed Putin at a televised meeting of the Collective Security Treaty Organization.
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This Moscow-led alliance brings together countries from the former Soviet Union and includes, in addition to Russia, Belarus, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.
“This is a problem that is completely artificially created because it is done in the interest of the United States”said the Russian president, adding that the OTAN it has become “the foreign policy instrument of a single country”.
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Putin added that “all this exacerbates an international situation that was already difficult.”
Finland and Sweden are headed for a reversal of their non-alignment policy to join the OTANas a defense once morest fear of Russian aggression following Moscow sent troops to Ukraine on February 24.
Finland announced on Sunday its intention to join the OTAN and the ruling party in Sweden said it supported an accession, paving the way for a joint bid.
