The ruling Swedish Social Democratic Party has made a decision about the country's joining the North Atlantic Alliance. Earlier, the authorities of Finland announced about joining NATO. In this case, the border of Russia with the North Atlantic block will increase by another 1,200 kilometers.
Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde said, as reported by Interfax, that the party had made a “historic decision” to join the NATO defense alliance at its meeting on May 15. The party said in an official statement that if Sweden joins the North Atlantic bloc, certain conditions will be met. The accession procedure should stipulate that no nuclear weapons will be deployed on the territory of the country, as well as NATO military bases on a permanent basis.
As reported by Izvestia, the leader of the Swedish Left Party, Nushi Dadgostar, said that Sweden's decision to join NATO could become a threat to national security. She also said that Sweden has been an independent state for over 200 years and has not participated in armed conflicts. In her opinion, the decision to join the alliance is the wrong way.
In March this year, surveys were held in Sweden and Finland about NATO membership and the results showed that 46% of Swedish citizens who took part in the poll said they agreed to join the alliance and 30% were against it. 61% of Finns said they would not join NATO. At the same time, it was decided that it was not worthwhile to hold a referendum on joining the North Atlantic Alliance.
After the decision of the authorities of neutral Sweden and Finland to join NATO, the situation in the region is changing significantly. The participation of these countries in the North Atlantic Alliance is now only a matter of time. It should be taken into account that the decision to join NATO still needs to be approved by the parliaments of Sweden and Finland. The process of joining the North Atlantic bloc is quite lengthy and can last for months, because the ratification of this decision takes place at the national level of all NATO member countries, which are 30 countries. Meanwhile, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, speaking in Berlin, has already said that the admission of Sweden and Finland to the alliance will be fast. However, experts point out that Turkey may block this decision, because it is well known that Ankara does not like the position taken by Helsinki and Stockholm on the separatist Kurdish groups.
Nevertheless, the potential threat to Russia's security was discussed on May 13 at the Security Council of the Russian Federation. The meeting was chaired by President Vladimir Putin. The Kremlin, however, does not disclose what exactly was discussed at this meeting.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said that Moscow will take measures in response. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Glushko said that in case Sweden and Finland join NATO, Russia will react accordingly, based on a thorough analysis of the situation. Moscow also warned that in case Finland joins NATO, Russia will take retaliatory steps, including military and technical ones.
In a phone conversation with Finnish President Sauli Niiniste, Putin made it clear that the country's decision to join NATO “would be a mistake, since there are no threats to the security of neutrality.” Given Finland's neutral status, Russia had withdrawn its troops 1,500 kilometers from the common border. During the telephone conversation the Russian President reminded his Finnish colleague of this circumstance, as for many years Finnish-Russian relations were mutually advantageous for both countries and had a good neighborly character. However, now the circumstances could change, and Russia would be forced to retaliate if NATO infrastructure came close to Russia's borders. After all, if these formerly neutral countries join the alliance, the borders of our country with the bloc will increase by 1,200 kilometers.
According to media reports, Inter RAO's European structure announced that it was suspending electricity supplies to Finland from Russia due to payment problems. The company explained its actions by the fact that starting from May 6, no payment has been received for the amount of electricity sent to Finland.
As we can see, the political and economic situation on the world stage is changing quite rapidly. The sanctions imposed by the U.S. and European countries against Russia, as well as the decision to expand the NATO bloc, naturally force Russia to take retaliatory measures. The unipolar world that existed on the planet until recently is failing. High inflation, rising prices of utilities, gasoline and foodstuffs are causing public protests in European countries. In turn, all of this is changing the overall political and economic situation in the world.