They warn of the repercussions of the entry of Sweden and Finland into NATO

“In this case, we will not be able to talk about the non-nuclear status of the Baltic Sea: the balance must be restored. So far, Russia has not taken these measures and has no intention of doing so, ”confirmed the senior official of his channel on the social network Telegram.

He warned that if Stockholm and Helsinki joined that military bloc, the length of the land border of the alliance with Russia would double. “It is natural that these borders are reinforced,” he stressed.

In his opinion, the Russian land and air defense forces will have to be significantly increased and a large number of naval forces should be deployed in the Gulf of Finland.

Medvedev noted that the governments of Sweden and Finland are now discussing the possibility of joining the alliance “very seriously”, while NATO itself is “ready to accept them”, in his words, “in the shortest possible time and with minimal formalities.” bureaucracy.”

Faced with such a situation, Moscow should act “without emotions and calmly,” as the former Russian president advised.

Regarding the connection between the new decision of these countries and the Russian military operation in Ukraine, he warned that it does not make sense to assess whether the situation would have been different if the war had not occurred.

“This is not the case. First of all, attempts have already been made to drag them into the alliance. Secondly, and most importantly, we do not have land disputes with these countries as we have with Ukraine. Thus, the price of the mentioned affiliation is different for us, ”he explained.

The day before, both countries had completed important steps toward their possible entry into the Euro-Atlantic bloc.

The Finnish government has submitted a security report to lawmakers, while Sweden’s ruling party has launched a review of its security policy options.

At a press conference on Wednesday in Stockholm, Finland’s Prime Minister, Sanna Marin, said with her Swedish counterpart, Magdalena Andersson, that her country was ready to make a decision on NATO within weeks, after a long debate in the legislature.

He commented that the two Scandinavian countries, which have strong economic, political and military ties, would make independent decisions regarding their security and accession to the alliance.

Anderson, for his part, confirmed that both executives would have a “very close dialogue, with very frank and honest discussions” in the coming weeks about their respective decisions.

On Monday, the Russian presidential spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, announced that the expansion of the military bloc, including the possibility of accepting Finland and Sweden, would not contribute to security in Europe.

ji / mm