Russia to take measures if Sweden, Finland join NATO: senior diplomat

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Moscow will act accordingly and the required security and defense measures if Sweden and Finland decide to join NATO, TASS quoted Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko as saying on Thursday.

"It is clear that our border with Finland is 1,300 km long. This will mean a radical change in the military and political situation and it is understandable that we will be forced to take security and defense measures that we will deem necessary," Grushko told the Russian media outlet upon being asked about the possibility of Russia deploying nuclear weapons in the Baltic. "This is the essence of military development."

"In the current conditions, I am not ready to say whether [the accession of Sweden and Finland to NATO] is real or not," the diplomat said.

Though Moscow opposes the alliance's expansion, it does not see the accession of Finland and Sweden into the bloc as an existential threat, Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov underlined, Russia will work on its Western flank to make it more sophisticated in terms of security in the face of NATO creeping in on its northern borders.

Moscow's statements came chiefly due to media reports saying Finland and Sweden were ready to join NATO as early as summer.

For decades, Grushko added, Helsinki and Stockholm's neutral status ensured their security and that of their region "that had been a region of peace and cooperation and, most importantly, a very reliable platform for building good neighborly relations with us."

Concurrently, their neutral status did not impede them in any way whatsoever from growing closer with the European Union and becoming members of the bloc, the senior Russian diplomat stressed.

Based on rational considerations and vital interests of the peoples living in the north of Europe, he underlined the importance of preserving the status-quo; "Otherwise, this will seriously worsen the military situation and bring about the most undesirable consequences that need to be avoided."

Responding to a question about Moscow's contacts with Helsinki and Stockholm in the wake of ongoing discussions in the two countries about the possibility of their accession to NATO, the diplomat noted that "diplomatic contracts are always maintained and there are embassies." 

However, he also noted that Sweden and Finland have joined the sanctions and are participating in the anti-Russia campaign unleashed in the West. "This is today's reality."

Finland, alongside its neighbor to the West, Sweden, is expected to request NATO membership in the coming months - before summer. Their accession, if it were to happen, would redefine European security and would be met with opposition from Russia, which has been very vocal about its opposition to NATO's expansion.

Russia had also criticized accusations that it posed a threat to the two countries discussing a possible NATO membership in light of regional tensions.

"These claims [over an alleged Russian threat] are unintelligent. They are not based on facts. They are in the realm of propaganda and provocations. They go against the national interests of those countries," Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said Wednesday in response to statements from Helsinki and Stockholm about the matter.