Lavrov spoke about the reaction in the case of deployment of NATO bases in Finland and Sweden

The emergence of NATO military bases in Sweden and Finland will lead to the strengthening of Russia’s capabilities in the northwest, said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov at a meeting with students and faculty of MGIMO. Broadcast was conducted on the Youtube channel of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

“If membership (of Sweden and Finland in NATO) is limited to just membership and further participation in activities that have already begun, this is one story. If military bases are deployed on the territories of these countries, depending on how this is implemented, we will make a decision to strengthen our capabilities in the north-west of the Russian Federation, ”Lavrov said.

The minister explained that the decision of Sweden and Finland to join NATO was “a little unexpected” for Russia, since relations, including in the field of security, were trusting, especially with Helsinki. Lavrov also noted that the volume of military resources that NATO will place on the territory of these countries does not depend on the Swedes and Finns, but on Washington.

In any case, the line of contact with NATO will increase radically, the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry stressed, drawing attention, in particular, to the statement of his Latvian counterpart Edgars Rinkevics that the Baltic Sea “is becoming a NATO sea.”

Finland and Sweden applied to join NATO in mid-May amid Russia’s special operation in Ukraine. Then Finnish President Sauli Niinistö told Russian leader Vladimir Putin by phone that last year’s Russian demands to prevent the country from joining the North Atlantic Alliance and the special operation in Ukraine “fundamentally changed the security situation” in the country.

The accession of countries to the alliance was blocked by Turkey, because Helsinki and Oslo supported the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, which is recognized as terrorist in Turkey. On June 28, the foreign ministers of the three countries signed a memorandum of understanding, which confirmed Ankara’s support. In July, the Foreign Ministers of Finland and Sweden and the ambassadors of 30 NATO member countries signed protocols on the accession of the two countries to the North Atlantic Alliance.

Russian President Vladimir Putin June 30 declaredthat Russia does not have such problems with Finland and Sweden as with Ukraine, so nothing worries Moscow in terms of their membership in NATO. However, if military contingents and the infrastructure of the military bloc are deployed in these two countries, Russia will respond in the opposite way.

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