Warnings about further NATO expansion continue to come out of Moscow. “We will closely follow what will be happening in the wake of Finland’s and Sweden’s accession to NATO from the standpoint of military infrastructure. Not a single development that might give NATO a stronger presence on the territories of these countries will remain unretaliated, without a proportionate, symmetric or asymmetric response from Russia,” said Sen. Konstantin Kosachev, Deputy Speaker of Russia’s Federation Council.
Senator Kosachev dismissed the idea that Turkey’s objections are real obstacles to the admission of Finland and Sweden into the alliance. “Turkey may complicate and slow down the process of Sweden’s and Finland’s admission to NATO, but as soon as it has managed to negotiate certain conditions for itself, this issue will no longer cause any objections from the Turkish leadership, because Ankara is in pursuit of its own aims and has no fundamental objections to NATO’s expansion and the admission of Finland and Sweden,” Kosachev said.
