Finland & Sweden's NATO membership will not improve European security, says Kremlin

Finland and Sweden’s possible accession into NATO would not elevate security in Europe but would lead to “additional tension”, said Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov. In an interview with CNN, Peskov said, “We are sure that the membership of Finland and Sweden in NATO, it won’t bring any additional benefits to the security of the European continent. On the other hand, it will bring additional tension."

The Russian Presidential spokesperson’s remarks came as Finnish and Swedish ambassadors submitted their countries’ applications for NATO membership to the alliance’s chief Jens Stoltenberg in May. But the move faced opposition from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan who said that Ankara would not support both the countries. 

Even Russian President Vladimir Putin had warned at the summit of the Collective Security Treaty Organization in Moscow that Russia would retaliate if NATO expanded to Finland and Sweden. But, the Kremlin noted that Finland and Sweden’s NATO membership did not pose an immediate threat to Russia. 

Meanwhile, weighing in on the Russian army’s plans in Ukraine as the war between both nations entered its 114th day, Peskov said that  Moscow is planning on withstanding the unilateral sanctions imposed by the Western nations and completing the goal in the Donbas region. "The number one goal is to protect the people of Donbas and Luhansk from those who are shelling Donetsk, for example, right now, and killing civilians there. And have been doing that for the last eight to nine years," he said.  

“As for other territories and regions of Ukraine, you know, the more our military is cleaning up the territory from those nationalistic regiments, the more people are welcoming them and the more people declaring their desire to discontinue their future life with the modern regime in Kyiv,” he claimed. 

Russia-US ties at 'zero', no dialogue between both nations: Peskov

 Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov has stated that the bilateral relations between both countries stand at “zero”. He told the RIA news agency that there was virtually no dialogue between Moscow and Washington. Earlier on Wednesday, the Kremlin spokesperson had also noted that communication remains “essential” in ties with the US as both the countries have further drifted apart since the invasion of Ukraine. 

Image: AP