According to Russia, Finland and Sweden would be on the “front line” as members of NATO. According to the United States, Russia’s warnings have no effect on NATO’s open door principle.
15.4. 14:41 • Updated April 15th. 15:32
Russia, again on Friday, has warned Finland and Sweden of the “consequences” of joining NATO.
Spokesman for the Russian Foreign Ministry Marija Zaharovan According to Finland, the choice is between Finland and Sweden, but accession would have “consequences for bilateral relations and the overall picture of European security”. Zaharova did not specify what these consequences would be.
According to Zaharova, NATO membership will not be able to strengthen the countries’ national security, but will automatically be at the forefront of NATO. According to him, the countries are also losing their sovereignty and the previous opportunity to take “unifying and constructive initiatives” internationally.
Russia has long presented similar thinly veiled threats. Zaharova’s statement at the end of February that Finland’s accession to NATO would have “serious military-political consequences that would require retaliation from Russia” was also widely publicized.
Leading politicians and security experts in Finland have pointed out that Russia has issued similar warnings long before it invaded Ukraine. Of course, the security policy context of the statements has changed completely this spring.
A week ago a Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia would have to “balance the situation” with its own actions if the countries joined NATO.
Yesterday Thursday, the former president of Russia, the current vice-chairman of the Security Council Dmitry Medvedev said that Russia would respond to Finland’s and Sweden’s NATO membership by, among other things, strengthening its western border and deploying nuclear weapons in the Kaliningrad region of the Baltic Sea.
United States: ‘We’re not worried’
Following Medvedev’s statement Thursday, a spokesman for the U.S. State Department said Ned Price said Russia’s warnings would in no way affect the United States’ commitment to NATO’s open door principle.
– We are not worried that the enlargement of the Defense League would cause anything other than stability in Europe, Price said at a general level.
Russian rhetoric is the complete opposite. Foreign Ministry Zaharova said today on Friday that Finland’s and Sweden’s NATO membership would not strengthen national or European security.
Director of the U.S. CIA William Burns said on Thursday (you will switch to another service)that Russia’s talk of deploying and putting nuclear weapons on standby is worrying. However, he added that no practical evidence of the implementation of harsh words has been seen so far.
Lithuanian Minister of Defense Arvydas Anušauskas again said on Thursday that Medvedev’s threat to deploy nuclear weapons in Kaliningrad is nothing new. Security experts are virtually certain that Kaliningrad has had nuclear weapons for years.