Russia warns of 'measures' if NATO expands to inlcude Sweden
Russia warns it will take "necessary measures" in the event of Sweden’s accession to NATO as the Western treaty keeps expanding eastward.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov issued the warning on Tuesday, saying that Moscow was struck by the speed at which Finland and Sweden abandoned their long-held principle of neutrality in order to join the Western military bloc.
“All of Russia’s legitimate security interests will be protected. The necessary measures [will be taken]; we know what these measures should be and how to put them into practice," Lavrov said in comments carried by the Tass news agency.
"We will definitely draw conclusions depending on how quickly and extensively NATO will use the territory of Finland and Sweden,” he said.
“There is no doubt that this will be done as both Helsinki and Stockholm are already discussing a variety of issues with the United States that relate to the deployment of the alliance’s infrastructure right on the Russian border with Finland and very close to our border with Sweden," Lavrov added.
Sweden and Finland applied for NATO accession last year following the eruption of the Ukraine conflict. Finland's NATO membership was green-lighted by all NATO members in April. But Sweden's application was blocked by Turkey that as one of NATO’s 31 members, has a veto over any new country joining the bloc.
In a U-turn on Monday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan agreed to support Stockholm’s membership bid. According to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, Erdogan would forward Sweden's bid to parliament in Ankara and "ensure ratification."
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Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova also reacted to the development, saying that Moscow “had an objective to weaken NATO because the United States, Britain and the entire NATO had an objective to weaken Russia.”
Russia has repeatedly warned US-led NATO forces against the alliance’s expansion. It says that NATO leaders betrayed a promise not to expand the body after the fall of the Soviet Union.
Since the collapse of the Soviet Union more than three dcades ago, Moscow has seen NATO expand to 15 European countries.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has also repeatedly railed against the West for driving NATO's eastward expansion, especially its courting of ex-Soviet republics such as Ukraine and Georgia.
Moscow launched the military campaign in Ukraine in February last year, with NATO’s eastward expansion blamed for it.
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