AA / Moscow
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that Russia would react “accordingly” if the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) were to deploy military forces in Finland and Sweden.
These statements constitute a response from the Russian side to NATO’s official invitation, issued yesterday Wednesday, to Sweden and Finland to join the Atlantic Alliance.
The British newspaper The Guardian reported Putin’s statements at a Wednesday evening press conference in the Turkmen capital Ashkabat, in which he did not rule out the emergence of tensions in relations between Moscow , Helsinki and Stockholm regarding their NATO membership.
“With Sweden and Finland we don’t have the problems we have with Ukraine, and we don’t have territorial disputes,” Putin said.
“If Finland and Sweden want to join NATO, let them join. It’s their business, they can join wherever they want,” he added.
The Russian president, however, warned that “if military contingents and infrastructure are deployed there, we will have to respond accordingly and create the same threats for the territories from which threats for us come”.
Russia has repeatedly warned Finland and Sweden against joining NATO, saying it would have ‘serious military and political consequences’ that would require them to ‘restore the military balance’ by strengthening their defenses in the Baltic Sea region, including the deployment of nuclear weapons.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov on Wednesday commented on NATO’s invitation to Finland and Sweden to join the alliance, saying: “We condemn the irresponsible behavior of the NATO, which is destroying the European structure, or what is left of it”.
“I have great doubts whether the period ahead will be calm for our neighbors in northern Europe,” he added.
The 32nd Summit of the Alliance, currently taking place in the Spanish capital Madrid, from June 28 to 30, comes to an end today, with the participation of Heads of State and Government, as well as Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Defense of 41 of the 44 countries that make up the Atlantic Alliance.
* Translated from Arabic by Mounir Bennour.
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