Russian President Vladimir Putin made it clear that Russia would respond if Finland and Sweden deployed NATO troops and military infrastructure on its territory.

Speaking at a news conference after the sixth summit of heads of state in the Caspian coastal states in Ashgabat on Wednesday, Putin said there was no threat to Russia if Sweden and Finland joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). He added, however, that Moscow must “create the same threat to the territory from which threats against us are created.”

“We do not have such problems with Sweden and Finland as we unfortunately have with Ukraine,” Putin said sa. “We have no territorial issues … no disputes … we have nothing that could disturb us from Finland’s or Sweden’s membership in NATO.”

“Only they should clearly realize that there were no threats before, now, if military contingents and infrastructure are deployed there, we must respond in a mirrored way and create the same threat to the territories from which threats are created against us,” it stressed. Russian leaders.

Commenting on NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg’s statement that Russia now has “more NATO” at its border, Putin stated that Finland’s and Sweden’s membership is significantly different from Ukraine’s.

“These are completely different things. They understand this perfectly, and they are just throwing this thesis in public opinion to show that Russia did not achieve the desired results,” he said.

The statement came after the two Nordic countries were formally invited on Wednesday to join the Western military alliance and initiated the membership process. Sweden and Finland are members of the EU, but not NATO, and the latter shares a 1,340-kilometer border with Russia and was previously part of the Russian Empire. The accession of the two formally non-aligned Baltic countries to NATO marks one of the biggest changes in European security in decades.

The decision of the two Baltic states to join the Western military bloc came shortly after Russia launched what is called a “special military operation” in Ukraine.

Russia has repeatedly warned Finland and Sweden to join NATO, claiming that their membership in the military bloc would adversely affect the bilateral relationship and force it to “restore military balance” by strengthening its defense in the Baltic Sea region.

NATO was founded in 1949 as a way for the Western powers to respond to the growing power and influence of the Soviet Union. Under a premise covered by Article 5, an attack on a NATO member state is considered to be an attack on all others, and each state is obliged to support other members.

Finland’s full NATO membership will create a new security architecture for both the country and the entire military alliance, while paving the way for the military bloc to partially surround St. Petersburg and expand the Western world’s presence across the strategic Arctic Circle.

Russia, whose invasion of Ukraine has provoked global outrage, has long insisted that NATO move closer to its borders. Officials in Moscow have repeatedly claimed that the deployment of the alliance’s troops threatens stability near the country’s borders and could trigger a strong response from Russia to ensure its security.

Tensions between Russia and the West have skyrocketed during the ongoing war in Ukraine. What is already strained relations between NATO and Russia is unlikely to go up since NATO adopted a new Strategic concept at this week’s summit in Madrid, which defined Russia as “the most significant and direct threat” to Allied security.