China News Agency, Moscow, May 16 (Reporter Tian Bing) Russian President Vladimir Putin said when attending the Collective Security Treaty Organization leaders summit in Moscow on the 16th that Finland and Sweden joining NATO will not pose a direct threat to Russia, but NATO military infrastructure Expansion in Finland and Sweden will elicit a Russian reaction.
According to the Kremlin website, Putin said in his speech that the expansion of NATO is an artificial problem for the interests of US foreign policy.
NATO has actually become a tool of a country's foreign policy.
All of this has exacerbated an already difficult international security environment.
Putin said that Russia has no problems with countries such as Finland and Sweden.
In this sense, NATO's expansion at the expense of these countries does not pose a direct threat to Russia.
But the expansion of NATO's military infrastructure into this territory is bound to provoke a Russian reaction.
How to respond will depend on an assessment of the threat posed by Russia.
Putin also pointed out that in addition to its endless expansion policy, NATO is also going beyond its geographic scope in the Euro-Atlantic region, trying to increasingly actively intervene in international affairs, control the security situation in other parts of the world and exert influence on it.
Finnish President Niinisto and Prime Minister Marin jointly announced on the 15th that Finland decided to apply for NATO membership.
Swedish Prime Minister Andersson announced on the 16th that the Swedish government has officially decided to apply for NATO membership.
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