Foreign Ministry: NATO countries continue to bend their line on expanding the alliance

NATO countries continue stubbornly sticking to their line of expanding the alliance, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said. According to the Russian diplomat, the situation is changing for the worse.

“We see that the NATO countries continue to stubbornly stick to their line on expanding the alliance. Finland joined the North Atlantic Treaty, <...> on the way – Sweden, despite the known difficulties, so the situation is not changing for the better, it is changing, unfortunately, for the worse. We draw our own conclusions from this.” leads Ryabkov’s words TASS agency.

Russia will have to take this factor into account when carrying out appropriate measures in the military sphere, “balancing the consequences of this step in terms of ensuring our security,” added the deputy head of the Russian Foreign Ministry.

In April, commenting on Finland’s accession to NATO, Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov declaredthat the expansion of the alliance is an encroachment on the security and national interests of Russia, the Kremlin considers this step another aggravation of the situation.

Answering a clarifying question from journalists about what kind of countermeasures Russia can take, Peskov said that these are the measures that “the Russian Federation considers necessary.” Russia will closely monitor how NATO will use the territory of Finland and what weapons and infrastructure will be deployed there. Depending on this, measures will be taken, he added. At the same time, the Kremlin spokesman stressed that the situation with Finland is “radically” different from the situation with Ukraine, since Moscow never had disputes with Helsinki, and Finland did not become “anti-Russia”.

4 April Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto signed document on the republic’s accession to NATO. The next day Peskov again declaredthat Finland’s accession to NATO creates additional threats for Russia and Moscow will take the necessary measures.

Sweden and Finland applied for NATO membership at the same time on May 18, 2022. After Danish politician Rasmus Paludan burned a Koran near the Turkish embassy in Stockholm on January 21, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Sweden should no longer wait for support for its application for joining NATO.