Moscow sees the entry of Finland and Sweden into NATO with bad eyes, since it considers the expansion of the Atlantic Alliance as a “particularly destabilizing” factor, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Riabkov said on Wednesday.
“Our position is known, it does not change, we consider the expansion of the Atlantic Alliance as a particularly destabilizing factor at the international level” and Moscow has a “negative” attitude regarding the entry of Sweden and Finland into the organization, he told the media Russians, according to the official agency TASS.
Riabkov has indicated that the entry of Sweden and Finland into NATO “does not add security neither to those who expand nor to those who enter, nor to the rest of the countries that see the Alliance as a threat”. The deputy minister also referred to the fact that the Alliance Heads of State and Government will adopt the Madrid Strategic Concept, which will guide their actions over the next decade and define Russia as the main threat to transatlantic security.
“The summit in Madrid consolidates the course of this block towards the aggressive containment of Russia. This does not affect our policy in any way, we will guarantee our security one hundred percent in any case,” he said.
Ryabkov has pointed out that NATO’s intentions to declare Russia a threat “has no relation to reality.” “It is precisely the alliance that represents a threat to us,” he declared.
However, he has insisted that Russia will do everything “so that our security and the security of our allies is guaranteed regardless of any wave of enlargement.” “We consider that the course of the Atlantic Alliance is irresponsible and destroys the European (security) architecture,” she estimated.
The Russian diplomat has stated that the NATO countries, including Sweden and Finland, which aspire to join the Alliance, cede part of their defense sovereignty to the United States.
“I have great doubts about how calm the next few times will be for our neighbors to the north. After all, they cede part of their sovereignty in terms of foreign and defense policy to Washington,” he said.
Riabkov lamented that in Europe “conversations about Euro-Atlantic solidarity with which the aggressive intentions of the Alliance towards Russia are concealed” are becoming more frequent.
The entry of Sweden and Finland into NATO, previously blocked by Turkey, became possible after the agreement reached the day before between the three countries, in which Stockholm and Helsinki promised not to support the Kurdish YPG militias, considered terrorists by Ankara .
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