MOSCOW, July 14. /TASS/. Russia will take all compensatory military-technical measures in the Baltic Sea, should threats arise from the accession of Finland and Sweden to NATO, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Thursday.
The Russian diplomat struck back at a claim touted by Polish President Andrzej Duda that the Baltic Sea would turn into an internal NATO basin after Sweden and Finland joined the US-led military bloc. Following Duda’s statement, Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak also claimed that the entry of the two Nordic countries to the military alliance had turned the Baltic Sea into NATO’s ‘internal sea.’
"It [the sea] cannot be considered by definition as ‘internal’ for the alliance. The accession of Finland and Sweden to the North Atlantic alliance will have no impact on this fact, no matter how much this is desired in Poland or anywhere else. As for the entry of Helsinki and Stockholm to NATO, our reaction to this event will depend on the nature and degree of threats emerging in this regard for Russia’s security," Zakharova specified.
"If need be, all compensatory military-technical measures, including those in the waters of the so-called ‘internal sea,’ will be taken," the Russian diplomat assured.
"As the classics used to say, there is no harm in dreaming. Instead of wasting time, they would be better off spending more time on studying geography since these dreamers clearly have some problems with it. The Baltic Sea is surrounded not only by the territories of NATO member states but also by the territory of Russia," the diplomat said, commenting on the corresponding claims.
Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto and his Swedish counterpart Ann Linde along with representatives of 30 NATO member states inked protocols on July 5 for the two Nordic countries to enter the North Atlantic alliance at an official ceremony at the military bloc’s headquarters. Finland and Sweden will become NATO member states after the accession documents are ratified by all of the alliance’s member countries. The approval letters will be sent to the US Department of State for safe-keeping.