Russian Foreign Ministry warns of dire consequences if Finland & Sweden join NATO

Russian Foreign Ministry, on Friday, warned of severe consequences if Finland and Sweden go ahead with their plans of joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). The ministry also claimed that the possibility of Sweden and Finland joining the military alliance might jeopardise political stability in the northern European region. It's no secret that NATO has been engaged in the aforementioned countries' territories for a long time, performing large-scale military drills there, the ministry added. 

"It is clear why the alliance needs this. The goal is to continue building up military potential and geographical expansion and to create another flank to threaten Russia. But it is not clear why our Finnish and Swedish neighbours in the Baltic region would turn into a new frontier of NATO's confrontation with Russia. The negative consequences for peace and stability in Northern Europe are obvious," the ministry's spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a statement, Sputnik reported. She further stated that these countries' membership in NATO will not assist them to boost their national security. 

NATO membership won't help Sweden & Finland enhance their international prestige: Russia

Zakharova also warned that Sweden and Finland's international prestige will not be enhanced by their membership in NATO despite the fact that they used to support numerous beneficial and unifying initiatives. The spokeswoman also stated that membership in NATO requires a member country to relinquish some of its sovereignty while making defence and foreign policy decisions. "But this became a trend long before the current situation; the EU member states, including its non-aligned countries, gradually turned into an instrument obediently following the destructive policies of the United States and NATO," she added. 

'Russia will have more officially registered foes if Sweden & Finland join NATO'

Meanwhile, Russian Security Council's Deputy Chairman stated that Kremlin will have more officially registered foes once Sweden and Finland join NATO. Dmitry Medvedev stated that Sweden and Finland are considering the idea of joining NATO and that the military alliance is prepared to accept them in the quickest period possible and with the least bureaucratic procedure. Notably, on April 13, Finland's Prime Minister Sanna Marin outlined that the decision on joining the military alliance will be taken in the next few weeks. Meanwhile, Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson stated that her government would be deciding to apply for NATO membership before the alliance's summit scheduled in June in Madrid.  

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