BEIJING, July 12. /TASS/. The military pressure on Russia’s western flanks has doubled amid NATO’s expansion to Finland and, possibly, Sweden and this does not bode well for either Europe or Eurasia, a Chinese expert said in an op-ed for the China Daily on Wednesday.

According to Ma Xiaolin, Professor at Zhejiang University of Foreign Studies, Finland and Sweden’s decision to join the North Atlantic Alliance signals "the complete reconstruction of the Nordic security framework established under the Yalta system, based on the Yalta Conference between Washington, Moscow and London, and the end of 'cold peace' in the Baltic region." It will also encourage "the military alliance to expand further eastward," toward Asia-Pacific countries, the expert said.

"This does not bode well for either Europe, Eurasia or the Asia-Pacific, and could increase confrontations and conflicts in the region," he warned.

NATO’s extension to Finland and Sweden’s imminent entry into the alliance, he said, double "the length of its border with Russia, completing a C-shaped encirclement of" the country. The bloc’s expansion "is posing a bigger security threat to Russia," as "the military pressure on the western front of Russia and even the Arctic region has suddenly doubled," Ma Xiaolin concluded.