One of the closest allies of the Russian president Vladimir Putin warned on Thursday NATO yes Sweden Y Finland join the military alliance led by USA, Russia would have to unfold nuclear weapons and hypersonic in the Central European enclave of Kalingrad.
Finlandwhich shares a 1,300-kilometre border with Russia, and Sweden are considering joining the EU alliance. NATO. Finland will make a decision in the coming weeks, the prime minister said on Wednesday, sanna marin.
Dmitry MedvedevVice President of Russian Security Councilsaid yes Sweden Y Finland join NATO, Russia would have to reinforce its ground, naval and air forces in the Baltic Sea to restore the military balance.
Medvedev also explicitly raised the nuclear threat by saying that one can no longer talk of a Baltic “free of nuclear weapons“, where Russia maintains the enclave of Kaliningrad, located between Poland Y Lithuania.
“You can no longer talk about a nuclear-free zone status for the Baltic, the balance must be restored,” said Medvedev, who was president from 2008 to 2012.
Medvedev said he hoped Finland and Sweden would see reason. Otherwise, he said, they would have to live with nuclear weapons and hypersonic missiles nearby.
When asked how Washington sees the possible addition of Sweden Y Finland to NATO in light of Russia’s warning, the Department of State The US said there was no change in Washington’s position and repeated that “the open door of NATO is an open door”.
“Without speaking of any particular country, we are not concerned that the expansion of a defensive alliance will do anything other than promote stability on the European continent,” said Department spokesman, ned pricein an information session.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24 has caused thousands of deaths, millions of displaced people and has raised fears of a broader confrontation between Russia and USA.
Putin says the “special military operation” in Ukraine is necessary because the United States was using Ukraine to threaten Russia and Moscow had to defend itself against Ukraine’s persecution of Russian-speakers.
Ukraine says it is fighting an imperial-style expansion and that Putin’s claims of genocide are nonsense.
