Sweden and Finland are considering NATO membership. Russia does not appreciate this and warns of possible nuclear weapons on the Baltic Sea.
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Russia’s former prime minister and president, Dmitry Medvedev, issued a warning to Sweden and Finland on Thursday, now discussing the possibility of joining NATO:
– Russia will then have two new officially registered opponents, says Medvedev, who is now deputy chairman of the Russian National Security Council.
Threatened with the deployment of nuclear weapons on the Baltic Sea
If Sweden and Finland become members of NATO, there can no longer be talk of the area around the Baltic Sea remaining free of nuclear weapons, Medvedev believes. Russia will then open up to deploy nuclear weapons in the area.
– The balance must be restored, says Medvedev. Russia has one territory by the sea Finland, Sweden and the Baltic parts: the small exclave of Kaliningrad.
The area is strategically important for Russia, both militarily and economically.
Russia’s threats to increase its military presence in the Baltics are “nothing new,” Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte said after Medvedev’s remarks on Thursday.
–Medvedev has for many years been one of Vladimir Putin’s closest supporters and was president of the country from 2008 to 2012, while Putin was prime minister. The constitution at the time prevented a Russian president from sitting for more than two consecutive terms.
After Russia invaded Ukraine, both Sweden and Finland have started discussions about possible NATO membership.
Finland: – Will be good if we make equal choices
On Wednesday, Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson and Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin met in Stockholm. They discussed the security situation in the two countries, and possible NATO membership.
– It will be good if we make equal choices, said the Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin about NATO membership to her Swedish colleague, when they met in Stockholm on Wednesday.
Marin believes a Finnish decision will be ready in weeks, not months.
–Støre has close contact with neighboring countries
A report on possible Finnish membership was published the same day – without giving any clear recommendation for or against. Sweden is also expected to submit a similar report by the end of May.
Prime Minister Andersson wants Sweden to become a member of NATO already this summer, sources told Swedish daily newspaper in a case Wednesday.
The plan is to submit an application in connection with the NATO summit in Madrid at the end of Juneaccording to the newspaper’s anonymous sources.
Maundy Thursday says Jonas Gahr Støre in VG that he has “very close contact” with his prime ministerial colleagues in Sweden and Finland.
– I think both Sweden and Finland have studied Norway’s experiences carefully, because we have shown that we can be neighbors with Russia and keep low tensions at the same time as we are a member of NATO, Støre says to VG.
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