Will join NATO

Russian President Vladimir Putin reminded Western countries that Russia would respond if NATO began strengthening the military infrastructure of Sweden and Finland. This was conveyed by Putin after the two countries decided to join the NATO military alliance after Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Putin has previously repeatedly cited the expansion of the post-Soviet NATO alliance eastward towards Russia's borders as a reason for the invasion of Ukraine.

Speaking to the leaders of the military alliance of the countries of the former Soviet Union, Putin said the expansion of NATO was being used by the United States in an "aggressive" way to exacerbate the already difficult global security situation.

Russia, Putin said, has no problems with Finland or Sweden, so there is no direct threat of expanding NATO to include those countries.

"But the expansion of military infrastructure to the region will certainly provoke our response," Putin told leaders of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, which includes Belarus, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.

"What (response) it is -- we will see what threats it creates for us," Putin said at the Grand Kremlin Palace. "Problems are created for no reason at all. We will react accordingly," he stressed.

Russia has given some specific instructions on what it will do in response to the expansion of NATO by the joining of Finland and Sweden.

One of Putin's closest allies, former President Dmitry Medvedev, said last month that Russia could deploy nuclear weapons and hypersonic missiles in the Kaliningrad region if Finland and Sweden joined NATO.

Before Putin spoke, Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said the West should have no illusions that Moscow would accept NATO expansion.

Moscow says NATO threatens Russia and that Washington has repeatedly ignored the Kremlin's concerns about the security of its borders in the West, the source of two European invasions in 1812 and 1941.

Finland gained independence from Russia in 1917 and fought two wars against Russia during World War II in which the country lost territory.
#NATO #newsmilitary