Russia Warns Finland and Sweden, NATO Membership Will Not Bring Them More Security

April 16, 2022 (EIRNS)—Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova warned in a commentary yesterday that membership in NATO will not give Finland and Sweden greater security.

“They will automatically find themselves on NATO’s forefront,” she warned, reported TASS. “Moreover, NATO membership implies renunciation of part of sovereignty in making defense and foreign policy decisions. This trend developed long before the current situation, when the EU member-states, including neutral ones, were gradually turned into a tool obediently following destructive orders from the United States and NATO.”

Zakharova stressed that it was up to the authorities of Sweden and Finland to make a final choice, but they should be aware of the consequences of their accession to NATO “for bilateral relations and the European architecture of security in general, which is now in a critical condition.” Zakharova argued that neutrality maintained the security of both countries for many years. “Potential membership of NATO is unlikely to help enhance the international prestige of Sweden and Finland, which in their history have served as proponents of many constructive and uniting initiatives. With the admission to the alliance Stockholm and Helsinki may lose this status,” she said.

Nonetheless, both Finland and Sweden are on track to apply for NATO membership. Finnish Europe Minister Tytti Tuppurainen told Britain’s Sky News yesterday that Finland is “highly likely” to join NATO following the Russian military operation in Ukraine. She said that the “people of Finland have already made up their mind” and that polls show huge support for membership of the Alliance. “At this point I would say it is highly likely, but a decision has not yet been made,” she said. She said Russia’s “brutal” war in Ukraine is a “wake up call to us all.”

“Not only to us Finns, it has to do with the whole security border in Europe,” she said.

Defense News reported yesterday that Helsinki and Stockholm have decided to follow separate tracks to NATO membership. Finland had wanted to a solution for both countries, to “jump together” into NATO, but has decided to examine a range of security-related options, including deepening Nordic defense cooperation and urging the European Union to develop enhanced defense policies to offer greater military protection to EU member states that border the highly sensitive Baltic Sea and High North regions.