Russian Embassy: Will take countermeasures

Late on Tuesday, the Russian embassy in Stockholm published a threatening message about Sweden’s upcoming NATO accession.

“Russia will take countermeasures of a political and military-technical nature,” writes the embassy.

The Kremlin has not made any official statements since Hungary on Monday said yes to Swedish NATO membership, but the Russian embassy has now published a long and seemingly threatening message on the Telegram platform.

“Russia will take countermeasures of a political and military-technical nature in order to minimize threats to its national security. Their concrete content will depend on the conditions and extent of Sweden’s integration into NATO, including the possible deployment in this country of NATO troops, munitions and weapons,” the embassy writes, among other things.

“Negative consequences”

The embassy complains about various aspects of the Swedish government’s handling of the NATO process. Admittedly, the statement reads, it is Sweden’s own business to join NATO, but:

“At the same time, the country’s entry into a military alliance that is hostile to Russia will have negative consequences for stability in Northern Europe and around the Baltic Sea, which remains our common area and will never become a NATO possession, despite what Sweden’s would-be NATO relatives say in their smug statements. “

Same threat before

The Russian ambassador, Viktor Tatarintsev, has previously said that Sweden will be a “legitimate target” if the country joins NATO.

Moscow has also repeatedly issued threats of political and military-technical countermeasures, for example when Finland was on its way into NATO last year.

What is meant by countermeasures of a “military technical nature” has been interpreted by experts as, for example, movements of military units and infrastructure as well as expanded exercise activities.