Swedish leader officially announced joining NATO

“A large majority in the Swedish Parliament is in favor of joining NATO. Joining NATO is the best thing for Sweden and the Swedish people.” Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson said.

The Swedish leader added that the country’s ambassador to NATO will submit an application to join the military alliance in the next few days.

Andersson also expressed confidence that NATO member countries will take no more than a year to ratify Sweden’s admission. However, the Swedish Prime Minister also affirmed that Stockholm does not want to build a permanent NATO base or store nuclear weapons if it becomes a member of the alliance.

Together with Sweden, Finland decided to review its long-held non-alignment policy after Russia carried out a special military operation in Ukraine.

According to recent opinion polls, the majority of people in Finland are in favor of becoming a member of NATO.

Also on May 16, Russian President Vladimir Putin warned Finland and Sweden that any military expansion on their territories would face a reaction from Russia.

The Russian leader affirmed that Moscow has no problem with Finland and Sweden joining NATO, but the expansion of military systems on the territories of these countries will lead to a response from Moscow, amid the context of international conflicts. This Nordic country is increasingly moving closer to NATO.

“The expansion of military systems into these territories (Finland and Sweden) will obviously lead to our response. This response will depend on the nature of the threats.”he said.

Speaking at the Russia-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) Summit in Moscow, President Putin emphasized that NATO expansion is a problem for Russia and that it will be closely watching. NATO’s plan to increase its global influence.

The Kremlin boss said that the CSTO plays a very important role in the post-Soviet space and expressed hope that this organization will increase its capacity and influence during “this difficult period”.