Sweden will apply to join NATOPrime Minister Magdalena Andersson officially announced this Monday, stressing that this means a new “era” for the Scandinavian country.
“The government has decided to inform NATO of Sweden’s willingness to become a member of the alliance,” he told a news conference, a day after the Finnish government also declared its intention to join the Atlantic Alliance.
The news of Sucia and Finland did not sit well with the Kremlin. On the one hand, the Russian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sergei Ryabkov, considered that the intention of these two countries is a “serious mistake”. Russian President Vladimir Putin, for his part, assured that the expansion of NATO would only be a problem if it included a deployment of troops on its borders.
Sweden and Finland, heading for NATO
“We are leaving an era to enter a new one”, according to the Swedish prime minister The Swedish ambassador to NATO will transmit Stockholm’s candidacy in a “short time”, according to Andersson Sweden and Finland have already announced their desire to deposit
your application simultaneously.
“We hope that (accession) will not take more than a year”with the necessary ratification by the 30 members of the Atlantic Alliance, declared the head of the Swedish government.
For its part, Finland confirmed this Sunday its candidacy for NATO, an announcement that represents a reorganization of powers in Europe almost three months after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, to which the Alliance promised military support “for as long as necessary “.
Finland’s “historic” announcement to apply for membership of the Atlantic Alliance has yet to be ratified in Parliament, but it has drawn the ire of Moscow, which is threatening retaliation. The Kremlin insists that the Nordic nations have nothing to fear, but has stopped supplying electricity to Finland.
The majority of NATO members support the entry of both nations, although Turkey accuses them of harboring Kurdish extremists. While the applications are processed, which can take months, the alliance will offer both countries provisional security guarantees.
‘An additional serious error whose consequences will have far-reaching’
Meanwhile, the candidatures of Sweden and Finland to join NATO in response to the Russian offensive against Ukraine are a “serious mistake”, said Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Riabkov on Monday.
“It is an additional serious mistake whose consequences will have far-reaching consequences,” said the deputy minister, quoted by the Russian news agency ‘Interfax’.
According to the official, Russia’s response “will depend on the practical consequences of the accession” of the two Nordic countries to the Atlantic Alliance.”It is clear to us that the security of Sweden and Finland will not be enhanced by this decision“, he underlined, revealing that “the level of military tension would increase”.
(Can read: Ukrainian group wins Eurovision 2022 and Zelensky celebrates victory).
Sweden’s ruling Social Democratic party gave the NATO bid the green light on Sunday, shortly after Finland’s executive announced its desire to join the Western organization, which Russia sees as an existential threat.
For Finland and Sweden, two countries that had never joined the Alliance even in the middle of the Cold War, the change of course was the result of the Russian offensive against Ukraine, since Russia is seen as a threat by its neighbors. Finland, in particular, shares some 1,300 km of borders with Russia.
Among other reasons, Moscow justified its offensive against Ukraine because of its rapprochement with NATO and its political, diplomatic and military support for the Ukrainian government. The Russian government thus wanted to keep Westerners away from its borders. Alliance countries are also supplying large quantities of weapons to Ukrainian forces that have been fighting the Russian army for almost three months.
What does Vladimir Putin say about accession of Finland and Sweden?
President Vladimir Putin said on Monday that Russia does not consider the decision of Finland and Sweden to join NATO as a threat, but that Moscow will react if there is a deployment of military infrastructure.
The entry into NATO of Sweden and Finland does not represent “a direct threat to us (…) but the expansion of military infrastructure to these territories will certainly generate a response from us,” Putin said at a televised meeting of the Organization of the Collective Security Treaty.
This Moscow-led alliance brings together countries from the former Soviet Union and includes, in addition to Russia, Belarus, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.
“This is a problem that is completely artificially created because it is done in the interest of the United States.”said the Russian president, adding that NATO has become “the foreign policy instrument of a single country.”
Putin added that “all this exacerbates an international situation that was already difficult.” Finland and Sweden are poised to reverse course from their non-alignment policy to join NATO, as a defense against fears of Russian aggression after Moscow sent troops to Ukraine on February 24.
Finland announced its intention to join NATO on Sunday and Sweden’s ruling party said it supported membership, paving the way for a joint bid.
INTERNATIONAL WRITING
*With information from AFP and Efe.
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