MOSCOW, March 7. /TASS/. Sweden’s accession to NATO is one of the most short-sighted decisions in its history, since from now on it will be seen by Russia as a threat, a senior Russian lawmaker said.
"To my mind, Sweden’s accession to NATO, which will officially take place today, is one of the most reckless and short-sighted decisions of the history of the kingdom. First. Even when it was a ‘half-member’ of the alliance, Sweden was not perceived in Russia as a threat. Now, it will. So, NATO is not a guarantee of Sweden’s security, it is a guarantee of risks," Konstantin Kosachev, a deputy speaker of Russia’s Federation Council (upper house of parliament), he wrote on his Telegram channel.
He stressed that this is a colossal status loss for Sweden. "The country will no longer be perceived as neutral, and not only by Russia. It will tell on any of its actions and institutions: no longer a neutral mediator, no longer a neutral venue, no longer a neutral contingent, courts, politicians, delegations to international organizations and so on. All these features of really sovereign states are to be forgotten," he noted.
Apart from that, according to Kosachev, instead of maintaining normal relations with the neighboring nuclear power, Stockholm will have to abide by Brussels’ military doctrines and be its enemy, thus, striping itself of the "room for maneuvering."
"The fact that so much efforts were made to drag Finland and Sweden into NATO shows that the special military operation was a pretext rather than a reason for that. NATO’s expansion is what matters the most. As a matter of fact, the entire history of the Ukrainian conflict proves this," he noted.
Apart from that, in his words, it is not quite appropriate to cite the moods in the Scandinavian country. "In the atmosphere of pre-war psychosis and lies about what was going on in Ukraine, people simply had no choice other than to thoughtlessly rush into the NATO-cat ‘caressing nets.’ <…> Sweden is needed not to enhance defense - let me repeat that until this day, Russian had no military, border, humanitarian or other claims and reasons for conflicts. The Swedes were needed to build up the offensive potential and, at the same time, to share responsibility among a wider circle of countries. A wider circle of mutual cover-up, so to say," Kosachev wrote.
According to the upper house speaker, it is obvious that Washington and its "European retinue" see the Arctic as the main arena of future confrontation. "This is a war for resources, northern transport routes, territories, influence and so on. But, I will repeat once again, Sweden will derive no benefits from this. This is a dangerous step by once sober-minded Swedish elites, a step that may turn out to be fatal," he added.