NATO. File photoMOSCOW, May 8.Former NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen believes that Sweden and Finland should join the alliance right now, while Russia is «busy» with a military special operation in Ukraine. «As for Finland and Sweden, it seems to me that these countries have a window of opportunity to join (NATO — ed.) right now, when (Russian President Vladimir) Putin is busy somewhere else (in Ukraine — ed.),» Rasmussen said in an interview with CNBC. At the same time, the former head of the alliance added that even if the application of Sweden and Finland considered urgent, the procedure for joining NATO will take «several months», as it must pass through the parliaments of 30 member countries of the organization before it is ratified by the alliance. In January, Rasmussen argued that Finland and Sweden could join NATO the next day after request.
NATO will not become a party to the conflict in Ukraine, said Stoltenberg The head of the alliance, Jens Stoltenberg, noted that NATO would be glad to see Finland and Sweden in its ranks and provide them with the opportunity to quickly join. NATO expects these countries to make their own decisions about possible membership in the coming «months and weeks,» US Permanent Representative to NATO Julianne Smith said. She added that the United States would welcome the accession of these countries to the alliance. Russia has repeatedly noted that NATO is aimed at confrontation. Press Secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov stated that further expansion of the alliance would not bring greater security to Europe, NATO has an aggressive character. At the same time, he noted that he did not consider the possible entry of Sweden and Finland into NATO an existential threat to Russia. Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine on February 24. President Vladimir Putin called its goal «the protection of people who have been subjected to bullying and genocide by the Kyiv regime for eight years.» For this, according to him, it is planned to carry out «demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine», to bring to justice all war criminals responsible for «bloody crimes against civilians» in Donbass. According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, the Armed Forces strike only at military infrastructure and Ukrainian troops and , on March 25, completed the main tasks of the first stage — significantly reduced the combat potential of Ukraine. The main goal in the Russian military department was called the liberation of Donbass.
