In Sweden, Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson addressed Moscow’s statement in a joint news conference Friday with Sweden’s military commander Micael Byden.
“I want to be extremely clear. It is Sweden that itself and independently decides on our security policy line,” Andersson said.
The Putin government has issued veiled threats to Sweden and Finland if they decide to join NATO. If Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine was designed to weaken NATO it’s not working. In fact, it’s doing precisely the opposite of what he desires.
A statement from the Russian Foreign Ministry Friday voiced concern about what it described as efforts by the United States and some of its allies to “drag” Finland and Sweden into NATO and warned that Moscow would be forced to take retaliatory measures if they join the alliance.
Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto said Saturday that “we’ve heard this before.”
Sweden already has a mutual military assistance pact with the United States and both Finland and Sweden have conducted joint training exercises with NATO forces. In the recent past, Russian aircraft were testing Sweden’s airspace defenses and Danish F-35s, at Sweden’s request, were scrambled to intercept the Russian aircraft.
The German government has announced that they are going to increase their defense spending. As far as I know, there was no Ukrainian plan to seize Moscow, nor was there any plan for NATO to seize Moscow.
What does Russia have that Norway, Sweden, Finland, the Baltic States, and Ukraine don’t have? A good neighbor.
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