On Friday, the Russian Foreign Ministry warned that a Finnish or Swedish accession to NATO, which these two Nordic countries say is not on the agenda “would have serious military and political repercussions”.
We’ve heard that in the past.” This was stated by Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto on Yle public television on Saturday.
The same words had been used by Russia a few weeks ago, when it had demanded guarantees that NATO would not expand further east. But also on many occasions in recent years, he stressed.
Despite the Russian invasion of Ukraine, both Helsinki and Stockholm have since Thursday ruled out the idea of an express request to join the Western military alliance.
Both countries are officially non-aligned, although they have been NATO partners since the mid-1990s.
“I want to be very clear. It is Sweden that alone and independently chooses its security line,” Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson said at a press conference on Friday.