The transatlantic alliance wants to “continue its geographical expansion and create another flank to threaten Russia,” said Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zajárova in a comment published on the Moscow Diplomatic Service website on Friday.
“It is unclear what it is worth to our Finnish and Swedish neighbors in the Baltic region to become a new line of confrontation between NATO and Russia. The negative consequences for peace and stability in northern Europe are obvious,” he stressed.
According to Zajárova, both countries “would automatically find themselves in the NATO front line” so that they could not strengthen their national security and “they would actually have to give up part of their sovereignty, the time to make decisions on defense and foreign policy .
He warned that if Helsinki and Stockholm joined this military bloc, they would have to bear the consequences of this step for bilateral relations with Moscow and the entire European security architecture, which he believes has plunged into crisis today.
According to the representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, admitting these Scandinavian countries to NATO would lose their leading role as promoters of constructive initiatives and cohesion on the international stage.
The decision to abandon its policy of neutrality and Sweden’s and Finland’s interest in joining NATO were reinforced by Russia’s military operation in Ukraine, which began on February 24.
Yesterday, Vice-President of Russia’s Security Council Dmitry Medvedev said the country must strengthen its western borders if both nations join the Euro-Atlantic bloc.
“In this case, we cannot talk about the non-nuclear status of the Baltic Sea: the balance must be restored. So far, Russia has not taken these measures and has no intention of doing so,” the senior official said on his Telegram social network channel.
He said that if Stockholm and Helsinki join NATO, the length of the alliance’s land borders with Russia will more than double. “Of course, these borders must be strengthened,” he stressed.
Medvedev pointed out that the governments of Sweden and Finland are now discussing the possibility of joining the alliance “with bestial seriousness,” while NATO itself “is ready to accept it,” he said, “in the shortest possible time and with a minimum of Formalities”. bureaucratic”.
In the face of such a situation, Moscow must react “without emotion, with a cool head,” advised the former Russian president.
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