MOSCOW, May 25. /TASS/. It is too early to talk about specifics of Russia’s countermeasures to Finland’s and Sweden’s accession to NATO, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Wednesday.
"As Russia stated repeatedly, the accession of Finland, who previously adhered to policy of non-alignment, and Sweden to NATO will not be left without response measures of political, economic, military-technical nature from our country in order to ensure our security. It is premature to talk about these specific measures, their specific content," Zakharova said.
The diplomat underscored that Russian countermeasures will depend on the conditions of Finland’s and Sweden’s membership in NATO, including deployment of NATO and NATO member states’ infrastructure on their territories, including offensive weapons.
On May 18, envoys of Finland and Sweden filed official applications for accession to NATO. On the same day, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan stated that Turkey will not support their accession until these countries define their stance on terrorist organizations, including the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, which Ankara views as such. On May 21, Erdogan said that Turkey will support their accession, if they display clear solidarity with Ankara regarding its security concerns.
On May 16, Russian President Vladimir Putin warned about Moscow’s reaction to expansion of NATO infrastructure to territories of Finland and Sweden. The Russian leader noted that the expansion itself does not pose direct threat to Russia, because Moscow has no problems with these two states.