Russian President Vladimir Putin said his country's response to Finland and Sweden joining NATO will depend on expanding infrastructure alliance. And although, according to Putin, «problems are created from scratch», with Sweden and Finland «Russia has no problems» — unlike Ukraine.
Following the official announcement by Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson on Monday that her country was applying for NATO membership, it became clear that the North Atlantic Alliance would very soon expand with two new members — Sweden and Finland, and Russia's borders with NATO will be significantly lengthened.
On the same day, the CSTO summit was held in Moscow with the participation of the presidents of Belarus, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan. At it, Vladimir Putin reacted rather restrainedly to the news from Sweden, but again attacked Ukraine with criticism.
«We have no territorial disputes»
Such a Kremlin reaction to NATO expansion, which was so actively opposed in Moscow in the last months before the invasion of Ukraine, may seem strange to some.
Apparently, the Kremlin also felt this, hastening to explain how the situation with the entry of Sweden and Finland into NATO differs from the possible entry of Ukraine and why such a different reaction.
Recall that the non-bloc status of Ukraine — one of the main demands of Moscow in the peace talks with Kyiv.
«We have no territorial disputes with either Finland or Sweden, while Ukraine could potentially become a NATO member, and then Russia would have a territorial dispute with a state that participates in the alliance, which carries huge, huge risks for the entire continent», — Dmitry Peskov, the press secretary of the Russian president, said.
In January, Moscow demanded that NATO renounce eastward expansion, not accept former Soviet countries, including Ukraine, into the alliance, renounce any military cooperation with them, and also return NATO troops to the positions of 1997, when the countries of Central and Eastern Europe and the Baltics had not yet joined the alliance.
Russian President Vladimir Putin then pointed out that the 1949 North Atlantic Treaty does not oblige NATO to recruit new members, although it allows it.
A geopolitical-historical problem?
At the anniversary summit of the CSTO, which was held in Moscow on Monday, Vladimir Putin once again repeated the standard set of accusations against Ukraine, mentioning some «documentary evidence» the fact that «in the immediate vicinity of our borders, in fact, components of biological weapons» were created. (You can read about what is wrong with these statements in our article.)
Putin again returned to the theme of « rampant neo-Nazism» in Ukraine, reproaching the West for turning a blind eye to this, and emphasizing that in Ukraine the Nazis are glorified at the state level (you can also read about what is wrong with this thesis in our article).
At the CSTO summit, Vladimir Putin again repeated the old anti-Ukrainian arguments
In general, it has long been the impression that NATO expansion looks unacceptable and offensive to the Kremlin only when former socialist countries or former Soviet republics join the Alliance.
As political scientist Tatyana Stanovaya writes, the point is that « for Putin, the problem of NATO has always been not a military-strategic one (the military threat was rather used as an excuse, the main argument, including for his own conviction), but a geopolitical-historical one. its essence. That is, let NATO exist in the West, but not «we». Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova — this «we have». Historically «we».
«By the way, in connection with this, strong irritation is now growing in military circles, since here they perceive NATO precisely as a military-strategic threat and consider «logic» Putin erroneous — he protects «our» (in his understanding) space, but exposes Russia strategically», — believes Stanovaya.
Sweden — in NATO, but without nuclear weapons?
Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson, announcing the country's intention to join NATO, said that even after Sweden joins the North Atlantic Alliance, it does not intend to place nuclear weapons or permanent NATO military bases on its territory.
Andersson says there is no definite military threat to Sweden yet, but she says the country will be in a particularly vulnerable position after the application to NATO is filed (Sweden wants to do it together with Finland) and before it is ratified by all 30 current members of NATO.
The UK has previously signed a declaration of mutual security assurances with Sweden and Finland, according to which London is ready to provide military assistance to these countries if they are attacked.
It was reported that such a document is necessary precisely in order to ensure the security of Sweden and Finland between the application to NATO and their formal accession to the alliance.
Meanwhile, Norway, Denmark and Iceland also issued a joint statement in which promised to protect their neighbors if they were attacked before formal entry into NATO.
«Together with Denmark and Iceland, Norway is ready to help our Scandinavian neighbors with everything necessary with resources in the event that they become victims of aggression before obtaining membership in NATO»,— Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre said.