Russia today denounced the efforts carried out by the West to include in the Atlantic Alliance Finland and Sweden, countries known for their neutrality, and warned about the serious consequences that the admission of these countries to NATO would have.
(Follow minute by minute: NATO strengthens its defense in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine)
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“It is evident that the entry of Finland and Sweden into NATO, which is above all a military bloc, would have serious political-military consequences, which would require a response from our country,” the spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry said at a press conference. , Maria Zajarova.
The representative of Russian diplomacy pointed out that Moscow is aware of “the directed efforts of NATO and some member countries of the bloc, above all the United States, aimed at including Finland and also Sweden in the Alliance.”
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In particular, he welcomed “the Finnish Government’s policy of military non-alignment as an important factor in ensuring security in Northern Europe and throughout the European continent”, but noted the “practical interaction” between Helsinki, Stockholm and NATO, which has grown lately.
“They have held NATO exercises, these countries have offered their territories to bloc exercises in the vicinity of the Russian borders, in which US forces imitated attacks with nuclear weapons against a so-called equivalent adversary,” he warned.
Zakharova stated that both Finland and Sweden have confirmed the principle of indivisibility of security as members of the OSCE. “The choice of ways to guarantee national defense and security is an internal and sovereign matter of each state,” she indicated.
The EU defends Sweden and Finland
The High Representative for Foreign Policy of the European Union, Josep Borrell, recalled today that all countries are free to decide their foreign policy and alliances after Russia has threatened Sweden and Finland, two community partners.
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“As we always say, we consider that all member states are free to choose their foreign policy and their alliance policy,” Borrell said at a press conference after the extraordinary meeting of EU foreign ministers in which a second sanctions package on Russia for its military invasion of Ukraine.
Asked by journalists, the head of European diplomacy refused, however, to speak more specifically on the words of the spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zajárova, who issued the warning today.
“It is clear that the entry of Finland and Sweden into NATO, which is above all a military bloc, would have serious political-military consequences, which would require a response from our country,” Zajarova said at a press conference.
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The Spanish Foreign Minister, José Manuel Albares, also recalled that only NATO and its member states can decide who its members are. “No one outside NATO can tell us who is a member or not,” he also said at the end of the meeting.
EFE
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