The Scandinavian country has this Thursday asked to join the Atlantic alliance “without delay”.
In response to a question about whether Finland’s possible accession to NATO would pose a threat to Russia, Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov said “absolutely”. He noted that “expanding the Alliance does not make the Eurasian continent more stable and secure.”
Peskov further warned that Moscow’s response to Finland’s accession to NATO “will depend on how close the Alliance’s military infrastructure is to Russia’s borders”. “The situation will be analyzed and the necessary measures will be taken to ensure the security of the country,” he added.
The Russian presidential spokesman also regretted that “the United States has made no attempt in the past two months to resume negotiations with Russia” and said that “the talks with Ukraine are also nothing to boast about”. “Everyone is trying to avoid a direct clash between Russia and NATO, but Russia will respond strongly to anyone who tries to intervene” in the Ukrainian conflict.
Last month, former president, former head of government and current vice president of the Russian Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev, warned that if Finland and Sweden join NATO, the Baltic region’s non-nuclear status will have to be forgotten. He assured through his Telegram channel that if the two Scandinavian countries join the Atlantic bloc, NATO’s land borders with the Russian Federation will more than double in length. Obviously, the defense of these borders will have to be strengthened.”
“It will be necessary to seriously strengthen the ground forces and air defense systems and increase the presence of our navy in the Gulf of Finland,” Medvedev warned, stressing that in such a case “the current non-nuclear status of the area of the Baltic Sea cannot be maintained, as the balance of forces should be restored.” He denied that the reason why Finland and Sweden are considering joining the Alliance has anything to do with what is happening in Ukraine. In his view, “we have no territorial disputes with these countries, as we have with Ukraine.”
Source: La Verdad
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