Sweden announced this Wednesday that it will summon Russia’s ambassador to Stockholm for threatening the country that it will become a legitimate target of Russian retaliation, including military personnel, once it joins NATO.
“Ministry of Foreign Affairs will summon Russian ambassador to denounce this clear attempt to influence”Sweden’s head of diplomacy, Tobias Billstrom, told the French agency AFP. ‘Only Sweden decides on its national security policy, no one else’he added.
Ambassador Viktor Tatarintsev has warned Sweden and Finland that joining NATO will make both countries “legitimate targets” for Moscow’s retaliation.
“After the accession of Finland and Sweden, the total length of the borders between Russia and NATO will almost double”Tatarintsev said in a text published on the Russian mission’s “site” on Tuesday.
“If anyone still thinks this will somehow improve Europe’s security, rest assured that the new members of the hostile bloc will become a legitimate target for Russian retaliation, including those of a military nature.”warned.
Tatarintsev also referred to the risk that the NATO command “decided to fully participate in the conflict” between Russia and Ukraine and drag the Swedes to death.
Sweden is taking “a step towards the abyss”, said the Russian diplomat in the critical text about the two countries’ accession to NATO (English acronym for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization).
Sweden and Finland applied for membership on May 18, 2022, less than three months after Russia invaded Ukraine, ending its historic stance of neutrality.
Russia shares a land border with Finland of more than 1,300 kilometers and a maritime border with Sweden.
One of the Russian objectives in justifying the invasion of Ukraine was to prevent the neighboring country from joining NATO and thus the expansion of the Atlantic Alliance.
Before the invasion, Moscow demanded that NATO guarantee in the form of a treaty that Ukraine and Georgia would never join the alliance. It also required NATO to retreat to pre-1997 positions, before the organization’s expansion into Eastern Europe. NATO refused both demands.
Despite Moscow’s claim that the expansion is aimed at encircling Russia, NATO claims that only six percent of Russia’s land borders touch Alliance members.
Russia has land borders with 14 countries and only five of them are NATO members, the military defense organization said.
Of the 30 NATO members, only Turkey and Hungary have not yet completed the ratification process of the two Nordic countries’ requests, although they have made progress in the Finnish case.
With regard to Sweden, Turkey is demanding that it stop supporting Kurdish groups considered terrorists by Ankara.
Hungary recently admitted to delaying the process due to past positions by Swedish rulers over the suspension of European funds to Budapest.
Portugal ratified the two countries’ accession in September 2022.
Source: DN
