SORTAVALA /Karelia/, July 28. /TASS/. Russia will be able to protect its own interests and ensure its own security, should Finland and Sweden joint NATO, Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev said Thursday.
"Russia’s reaction to all these events will be as strong as required and no stronger than sufficient; I am certain that we will be able to protect our interests, interests of our country, ensure its security and security of our citizens by all means necessary," Medvedev said after a meeting on security of Russia’s northwestern borders.
Meanwhile, Medvedev noted, that it is necessary to work on development of "own territories despite the current events." The official pointed out that he visited a checkpoint on the Russian-Finnish border earlier on Thursday.
"The amount of people crossing the border has decreased significantly, the amount of cargo crossing the border fell by dozens of times. But I am certain that, sooner or later, the trade volume will restore regardless, because economy wins over all kinds of political speculations eventually," Medvedev believes.
He refrained from making predictions as to how soon this may happen.
"In any case, we must spend this period to facilitate the development of Karelia and our other territories adjacent to the NATO territory as much as possible - I, of course, mean the Kaliningrad Region as well. So this is how we are going to respond," he concluded.