Russia has criticized accusations that it poses a threat to Sweden and Finland amid their sudden drive to join NATO. Leaders in the Nordic states have recently expressed a desire to enter the US-led military bloc following Moscow’s military attack on Ukraine.
“These claims [over an alleged Russian threat] are unintelligent. They are not based on facts. They are in the realm of propaganda and provocations. They go against the national interests of those countries,” the Russian Foreign Ministry’s spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told Radio Sputnik on Wednesday. “I believe it would be wrong to consider these statements as an independent opinion,” she added.
On Tuesday Swedish Minister of Foreign Affairs Ann Linde told reporters while visiting Bosnia-Herzegovina that Russia threatening Sweden or Finland is unacceptable. “Our citizens must make their own security decisions,” she said, regarding Stockholm mulling over membership in the Western military bloc.
Zakharova has argued that those Scandinavian politicians who advocate for joining NATO serve not the interests of their people but rather the interests of the US.