The Foreign Ministry called Finland and Sweden a place of confrontation with NATO

NATO is not a defensive alliance, these words are a "fiction", Zakharova claims, and the entry of Sweden and Finland into the bloc threatens to "unbalance" European security. The operation in Ukraine in the Foreign Ministry considers a consequence of US policy

NATO's raison d'être is a geopolitical confrontation with Russia that will affect Finland and Sweden if they join the alliance, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in an interview with Spanish newspaper ABC. The text is provided by the press service of the ministry.

“If Finland and Sweden join the alliance, they will become a space for confrontation between the North Atlantic bloc and Russia, with all the ensuing consequences, including for our time-tested good neighborly relations. Is this what the inhabitants of Sweden and Finland aspire to?” Zakharova asked.

In her opinion, the allegations that NATO is a defensive organization is a “fiction”, since the bloc seeks to contain Moscow, “radically change” the military-political situation in Europe, and also to undermine the strategic balance of power.

Turkish Foreign Ministry threatened to respond to the "slightest attack" on a NATO member Politics

Zakharova added that NATO has been "cultivating" Helsinki and Stockholm for a long time to influence their policies, and this was achieved by the fact that the alliance "carefully sculpted the image of the enemy out of Russia." At the same time, she is sure, it was NATO that posed a threat to Russian security. Moscow has warned Sweden and Finland before that "drawing into the NATO orbit threatens to unbalance" Europe's security, a Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said.

“Russia’s special operation in Ukraine should be perceived as a consequence of the aggressive expansionist policy of NATO led by the United States, and not vice versa,” Zakharova added.

The Foreign Ministry later accused the Spanish newspaper of censorship, saying that the publication initially intended to publish an abbreviated version of the conversation in print, and publish the entire conversation on the website. Then ABC reported that the interview with Zakharova would not be published “in this format”. “There is no doubt, there is a fact of undisguised censorship. With which ABC correspondent R. Moreno Manueco could not disagree, who confirmed this in a telephone conversation, ”says the ministry.

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The Prime Minister of Finland reported on the discussions in Parliament on NATO membership Politics

Now the issue of applying for membership in NATO is being discussed in the Finnish Parliament, the Academician. According to the head of the Finnish government, Sanna Marin, what is happening in Ukraine has changed the security environment, and "there is no turning back." Helsinki is currently working on various scenarios for Russia's reaction to the country's accession to the alliance. Before, she explained her desire to see Finland in NATO by the fact that Russia turned out to be "not the neighbor we thought it was."

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has already promised support for the applications of Sweden and Finland, indicating that he cannot guarantee that Moscow will not use force next time. He called obvious the impossibility of changing state borders by force. “Now that Russia is trying to do it in Ukraine, there is no guarantee that it will try to do it somewhere else,” Scholz explained.

The Kremlin assured that Moscow does not consider the entry of the Scandinavian countries into NATO as an existential threat to itself. “We will have to make our western flank more and more sophisticated in terms of ensuring our security,” Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko said that the membership of Finland and Sweden in NATO threatens with "the most undesirable consequences."

See also When Sweden and Finland get into NATO 07:39

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