The traditional policy of non-participation in military alliances pursued by Finland, Sweden is seen by our side as an important factor in ensuring stability in northern Europe
This was stated by Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova
According to the diplomat, Russia sees “NATO’s purposeful work to draw into the orbit of its interests and the opportunistic policy of these countries,” which increasingly participate in NATO exercises and provide their territory for such maneuvers.
“This, of course, cannot but raise questions for us. It is quite obvious that the accession of Finland and Sweden to NATO, which is primarily a military structure and certainly does not prioritise a defence agenda, but is engaged in just aggressive activities – all this would have serious military-political consequences which would require adequate responses from the Russian side.”