Tue 17 May 2022:
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday that Finland and Sweden joining NATO would probably make “not much difference” as the two countries had long participated in the alliance’s military drills.
“Finland and Sweden, as well as other neutral countries, have been participating in NATO military exercises for many years,” Lavrov said.
“NATO takes their territory into account when planning military advances to the East. So in this sense there is probably not much difference. Let’s see how their territory is used in practice in the North Atlantic alliance.”
Moscow considers the decisions of Sweden and Finland to join NATO to be only a geopolitical move to contain Russia, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov added.
“We do not see any need for Finland and Sweden to take care of their security, so we see their decision, which was probably actively lobbied by Washington and NATO itself, as only a geopolitical move .
.. in the context of containing Russia, in the context of implementing NATO’s plan to extend its actions to the Arctic region,” Lavrov said at the educational marathon “New Horizons.”
Moscow will look at how the alliance will use the territories of Sweden and Finland and then draw conclusions, the minister added.
No Talks With Swedish Foreign Minister
Theere is no conversation between Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde on Lavrov’s schedule, the Russian Foreign Ministry told Sputnik.
Earlier, Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson, answering whether she was going to inform Russian President Vladimir Putin personally about the decision regarding NATO membership, as Finnish President Sauli Niinisto did on May 14, said that Linde would call Lavrov, with whom she had numerous contacts, to inform about this.
“Such a conversation does not appear in Lavrov’s schedule,” the Russian ministry said
“In the near future, Russian First Deputy Foreign Minister Vladimir Titov will have a talk with the Swedish ambassador,” it added.
SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES
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