Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Thursday that Sweden and Finland’s membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) would be met with a response.
According to the Russian “Interfax” news agency, Medvedev, who is now the deputy head of the Russian Security Council, said that if the two countries host NATO bases and weapons, then “our reaction will be proportionate to that.”
The statement came after a meeting on the security situation along the 1,300-kilometre border with Finland.
The NATO member states are currently ratifying the membership of Sweden and Finland, after they applied for NATO membership last May.
In Medvedev’s view, the two countries’ decision to join NATO means that the security situation in the Baltic Sea region is bad “because the Baltic Sea is now effectively a sea dominated by NATO countries.”
He accused the two countries of being affected “across the ocean and in Brussels”. “Now, relations with the two countries must be reviewed from the Russian side,” he said.
#Russia #vows #respond #Finland #Sweden #joining #NATO