Russia: Finland's NATO Membership Will Trigger A Response

Finland’s NATO membership will trigger response – Moscow

Nikolay Gyngazov

Moscow has warned that Finland joining NATO would pose a direct threat to Russia’s security and its acceptance to the military alliance would prompt Russia to develop measures to ensure its safety. That’s after Finnish officials confirmed on Thursday their commitment to join the US-led bloc and announced plans to pen a formal application later this week.

“There is a current instruction from the president to develop a list of measures to strengthen our western flanks in connection with the strengthening of NATO’s eastern flanks,” said Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov during a daily press briefing on Thursday, adding that the expansion of NATO towards Russia’s borders will not make the world or the Eurasian continent any more secure.

He added that Russia regrets Finland’s decision to join the hostile steps taken by the EU and warned that Helsinki’s attempts to join NATO would serve as a reason to develop respective mirror responses.

The statement comes after Finnish leaders announced on Thursday a commitment to seek membership in the US-led military bloc. President Sauli Niinisto and Prime Minister Sanna Marin of Finland expressed their view that “as a member of NATO, Finland would strengthen the entire defense alliance,” adding that their country “must apply for NATO membership without delay”.

Last month, the former Russian president and prime minister, Dmitry Medvedev, who is currently deputy chairman of the country’s Security Council implied that if Finland and Sweden became members of NATO, Russia might be forced to deploy nuclear weapons to the Baltic region in order to preserve “the balance of power.”

Media names date of Sweden’s NATO bid

RT

The Swedish government is expected to resolve all differences on NATO membership by the end of the week and send its application on Monday, the same day as Finland, local media said on Thursday, citing sources. Earlier on Thursday, the Finnish leadership endorsed accession to the US-led military block.

According to the Swedish newspaper Expressen, a series of official meetings will culminate early next week in a formal request by Sweden to become a NATO ally.

The ruling Social Democrats will hold a virtual meeting later on Thursday to discuss the issue. On Friday morning, the minority government and parties that support it passively in the parliament are to present to the public a generally favorable view of joining the alliance, the newspaper said. Unlike in Finland, there will be no direct call for membership. This is in order to address reservations that some people in the ranks of the Left and Greens have, the report said. This will be followed by a Social Democrat leadership meeting on Sunday.

The key moment will come on Monday, when a parliamentary debate will be held on the issue. Provided that the legislature supports the move, Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson will issue a formal request later on the same day, the sources said.