All news

Russia to take response steps to avert threats from Sweden’s NATO membership

The NATO membership will not boost Sweden’s security at least because no one threatens this country, the Russian Foreign Ministry noted

MOSCOW, May 16. /TASS/. Russia will have to take steps in response to Sweden’s accession to NATO, which will depend on the terms of that country’s integration into the alliance, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in press statement on Monday.

"Sweden’s accession to NATO will do serious harm to the security of Northern Europe and the European continent in general. Russia will have to take response steps of the military technical and other nature to avert threats to its national security stemming from it," the ministry said. "In this respect, much will depend on concrete terms of Sweden’s integration into the North Atlantic alliance, including possible deployment of this military bloc’s offensive weapons on the Swedish territory."

"Stockholm’s foreign policy course, which rested on the more than 200-year-long tradition of Swedish neutrality, has been a major factor of stability and trust in the Baltic Sea region for decades," the ministry noted.

At the same time, it recalled that the Russian side has repeatedly said that choice of tools of ensuring national security is a domestic affair of any country.

"Anyway, the membership in NATO will not boost Sweden’s security at least because no one threatens this country. But it will obviously entail the loss of sovereignty in making foreign policy decisions," it said. "On our part, we are convinced that such a choice made by the current ruling politicians in Sweden does not meet the long-term interests of the Swedish people."

Sweden’s government on Monday made an official decision to apply for NATO membership. According to the Swedish prime minister, the application will be lodged along with Finland in the near future.