During his visit to Turkmenistan this Wednesday (29), Russian President Vladimir Putin assured that Sweden and Finland will not see “problems” in their eventual NATO accession.
“We do not have problems with Sweden and Finland as we do with Ukraine,” Putin said at a press conference in Turkmenistan’s capital, Ashgabat.
“We have no regional differences,” continued the Russian President.
“If Sweden and Finland join NATO, there is nothing to bother us. If Finland and Sweden want to join, they can join. It’s up to them. They can join whatever they want,” he reaffirmed.
But Putin said, “If military units and infrastructure were deployed there, we would have to respond symmetrically and make the same threats to areas where threats against us arise.”
After Russia launched a military operation against pro-Western Ukraine on February 14, Sweden and Finland decided to apply to join NATO.
The formal accession process began this Wednesday during the NATO summit in Madrid.
Until now, Russia has always criticized the possibility of the two Scandinavian countries joining the Atlantic Alliance, saying it would be a “destabilizing factor” for international security.
Putin also criticized NATO’s “imperialist ambitions” and accused the Alliance of trying to maintain its “superiority” through the conflict in Ukraine.
“The welfare of the Ukrainian and Ukrainian people is not the goal of the West and NATO, but a means of defending their own interests,” said Putin.
“The leaders of NATO countries want to secure their superiority and imperial ambitions,” he said.
The Russian leader said that the Atlantic Alliance, and above all the United States, needed an external enemy around which they could unite their long-time allies.
“Iran was not good for that. We gave them the opportunity to gather the whole world around them,” he snapped.
source: Noticias
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