Sweden's plans to create a NATO base on the island of Gotland are provocative, Russian Foreign Ministry says. Stockholm intends to strengthen the ‘strategically important’ island in order to improve defense against the imaginary ‘Russian threat,’ the ministry says.
Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced plans to seriously strengthen the Russian Armed Forces in the western direction in connection with the accession of Sweden and Finland to NATO. The department also noted that through the efforts of Stockholm and the alliance, the once peaceful Baltic Sea is turning into “an arena of geopolitical confrontation”