MOSCOW, January 18. /TASS/. Moscow will take military-technical measures on its side of the border if Finland and Sweden join NATO, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Wednesday.

"We need to draw conclusions from the accession of Finland and Sweden [to NATO] and if it eventually takes place, we will take appropriate military-technical measures on our side of the border," Lavrov stated at a press conference on the results of Russia’s diplomatic activities in 2022.

On May 18, 2022, Helsinki and Stockholm submitted their applications to join the alliance but the process was blocked by Turkey who demanded that the two countries designate Kurdish organizations as terrorist groups, extradite those suspected of terrorism and being involved in the 2016 coup to Ankara, and lift bans on weapons supplies to Turkey. Talks between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Finnish President Sauli Niinisto, then Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg took place in Madrid on June 28, 2022. As a result, a memorandum was signed making it possible for Sweden and Finland to join NATO. The Turkish leader stated that Sweden had pledged to extradite over 70 people involved in terrorist activities.