MOSCOW, February 29. /TASS/. NATO eastward expansion following the inclusion of Sweden and Finland has created the necessity to seriously boost the groupings of the Russian Armed Forces in the western part of the country, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in his Address to the Federal Assembly.

"It is seriously necessary to strengthen the groupings in the western strategic direction in order to neutralize threats related to yet another NATO expansion to the east and the drawing of Sweden and Finland into the alliance," Putin noted.

On February 26, the Hungarian parliament formally ratified the agreement approving Sweden's accession to NATO. Hungary became the last country in the 31-member alliance to green-light Stockholm’s membership application. The Hungarian government submitted a bill to parliament on Sweden's accession to NATO in the summer of 2022, but the parliamentarians put it on the shelf, refusing to take action on the legislation because of Hungarian displeasure with statements by Swedish politicians seen as unfriendly to Hungary. On March 27, 2023, the Hungarian parliament approved the NATO accession of Finland, which had applied simultaneously with Sweden, but postponed consideration of Stockholm’s request to join the bloc.

The two Nordic countries submitted their applications to the North Atlantic Alliance on May 18, 2022, claiming that they were compelled to abandon their traditional neutrality and seek NATO membership due to events in Ukraine.