Moscow [Russia], April 15 (ANI): Russia on Thursday warned Sweden and Finland against joining NATO and said that it would add “more than double” its troops in Russia’s Western flank. Deputy chair of Russia’s Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev, gave the warning and in a statement on Telegram on Thursday wrote that ground and air defense forces would be beefed up, reported CNN News.

“It will no longer be possible to talk about any non-nuclear status of the Baltic — the balance must be restored, Medevedev added referring to the possibility of Sweden and Finland joining NATO.

Medvedev, who served as president of Russia from 2008 to 2012 in a four-year interregnum for Russian President Vladimir Putin’s two-decade rule, has been aggressive in recent months, though he is not a top decision-maker.

Moreover, a 2018 Federation of American Scientists report concluded that Russia may have significantly modernized a nuclear weapons storage bunker in Kaliningrad, an exclave of Russian territory between Poland and the Baltic states, reported the news channel.

Thursday marks 50 days since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and there has been a marked shift in Moscow’s approach. Ukrainian officials have warned for days they expect a major offensive by Russian forces in the eastern Donbas region. (ANI)

Accession of Sweden, Finland to NATO threatens stability in northern Europe: Russia

Moscow [Russia], April 15 (ANI/Sputnik): The possible accession of Sweden and Finland to NATO threatens negative consequences for stability in northern Europe, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

“It’s no secret that the territories of these countries have long been mastered by NATO, large-scale military exercises were held. Why the alliance needs this is understandable. The goal is to continue building up military potential and geographic expansion, to create another flank for threats to Russia.

And it’s unclear why our Finnish and Swedish neighbors in the Baltic region need to turn into a new frontier of confrontation between the NATO bloc and Russia. The negative consequences for peace and stability in Northern Europe are obvious,” Zakharova said in a statement. She stressed that the membership of these countries in NATO would not strengthen their national security.

“They will automatically find themselves on NATO’s front line. Moreover, NATO membership implies, in fact, the renunciation of part of the sovereignty in the development of decisions in the field of defense, and in foreign policy. However, this trend has emerged long before the current situation, when the EU member states, including its non-bloc countries, gradually turned into an instrument dutifully following the destructive attitudes of the United States and NATO,” Zakharova added.

Sweden and Finland need to understand the consequences of possible NATO membership for bilateral relations with Russia, as well as how it will affect the European security system, she said. “Naturally, the choice is up to the authorities of Sweden and Finland. But they must also understand the consequences of such a step for our bilateral relations and the European security architecture in general, which is now in a crisis,” the statement says.

Potential NATO membership is unlikely to help strengthen the international prestige of Sweden and Finland, Zakharova noted. “Potential membership in NATO is unlikely to help strengthen the international prestige of Sweden and Finland, which in their history were the conductors of many constructive, unifying initiatives. With the entry into the alliance, Stockholm and Helsinki will lose this opportunity,” she said. (ANI/Sputnik)