Security situation in the Baltic Sea region
Medvedev: Will react to Finland joining NATO
07/28/2022, 7:31 pm
The planned entry of Sweden and Finland into NATO is a thorn in Russia. Medvedev, the former head of the Kremlin, complained that the Baltic Sea is now “dominated by NATO countries.” He threatens “symmetric” reaction steps.
Former Kremlin chief Dmitry Medvedev believes that joining NATO by Sweden and Finland will trigger a military retaliation from Russia. If NATO bases are established and weapons are deployed in the countries’ territory, “our response steps will be symmetrical,” the deputy head of the Russian Security Council said after a meeting on the security situation along the border with Finland. to the interfax agency.
Following the Russian attack on Ukraine, Sweden and Finland cited concerns about their own security as a reason for their desire to join NATO. Before that they were neutral. At its summit in Madrid in late June, NATO approved membership applications. Since then, ratification by individual member states has continued.
Medvedev believes that the two countries’ decision to join NATO worsens the security situation in the Baltic Sea region, “as the Baltic Sea is now becoming a de facto NATO-dominated sea.” He accused both states of being “across the sea and influenced by Brussels”. The relations with the countries will now have to be reviewed by the Russian side. To the north, Russia shares a border of more than 1,300 kilometers with Finland. Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin had already announced in late June that his country’s joining NATO would result in a military retaliation by his country.
The accession protocol has already been signed
In early July, the Bundestag approved Finland and Sweden to join NATO. Most of the deputies in Berlin voted for a law that is a prerequisite for the acceptance of the relevant protocol by Germany. The SPD, Greens and factions of the FDP’s Traffic Light Coalition, as well as most of the AFD in the union and opposition, voted for it.
The ambassadors of the 30 coalition states had already signed the so-called accession protocol at the headquarters in Brussels in the presence of the foreign ministers of the two Nordic countries. “We are seeing how European history is being written,” said Federal Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht. The expansion of NATO sends a message to the Russian president, the minister said. “We are strengthening the security infrastructure, the peace system that Putin wants to destroy,” he said. “The West, which he so despises, is getting stronger, not weaker.”
