According to Vladimir Putin, Russia will react if NATO brings military infrastructure to Finland and Sweden.
Russian president Vladimir Putin According to Finland, the accession of Finland and Sweden to NATO “is not a problem” for Russia.
“We have no problems with Sweden and Finland in the same way as with Ukraine,” Putin said at a news conference in Ashgabat, the capital of Turkmenistan, on Wednesday.
“If Finland and Sweden want to, they can join. It’s their business. They can join whatever they want.”
However, on the same occasion, Putin reiterated that Russia would react if NATO brought military infrastructure to Finland and Sweden.
According to Putin, new tensions may arise between the countries. According to Putin, Russia will respond with the same force if military infrastructure is deployed in the region.
Putin also commented on Monday’s mall blow. Russia fired a missile on Monday at a shopping mall in the city of Kremenchuk. 18 people died in the attack and several dozen were injured.
Putin denies Russia was behind the attack.
“Our army doesn’t strike at civilian targets at all. We know where any location is,” he says.
“None of us shoot at random.”
According to Putin, the attacks are carefully planned based on intelligence and this was also done this time.
Russia has made conflicting statements about the mall strike. On Monday, Russia claimed the attack was staged by Ukraine, on Tuesday it conceded the attack and on Wednesday Putin denied being behind a shopping center attack.
AFP, Reuters, Aftonbladet and The Guardian.
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