Russia warns Finland, Sweden’s accession to NATO will create tensions in the Arctic region
Sweden and Finland’s NATO bid could accelerate Russia’s militarization of the Arctic region and escalate regional tensions, Russia’s foreign ministry warned on Wednesday. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ spokesperson Maria Zakharova answered a reporter’s question during the press briefing about how Sweden’s and Finland’s NATO accession will affect the Arctic Council – the intergovernmental forum that promotes cooperation, coordination and interaction between the Arctic states. Zakharova replied that in that case Moscow will be the only state that will be a non-NATO member remaining in the Arctic Council.
“It cannot be ignored that once these countries join the alliance, all member states of the Arctic Council except Russia will be members of the North Atlantic bloc,” Russia’s foreign ministry spokeswoman said in a press release.
Russian Zakharova emphasized, however, that since the Arctic Council does not deal with any military security issues, it should not be related to Sweden and Finland’s accession to NATO. In a later statement, Russia’s Foreign Ministry criticized NATO for pumping weapons into Ukraine, saying Russia opposes not only the formation of the Kiev regime, citing foreign boots on the battlefield, but also countries in the North Atlantic alliance. [NATO] “providing all kinds of military support to Kyiv and waging a proxy war against Russia.”
NATO seeks to weaken the Russian Federation: Russian MFA
Russia accused NATO members of trying to weaken Russia and destroy its military potential. It criticized what it described as disinformation and war propaganda, such as Russia launching high-precision strikes against energy and other infrastructure in Ukraine. “First of all Western, facilitate their logistics and relations,” claimed the Russian Foreign Ministry.
Russia further claimed that NATO’s arms supply has exacerbated the conflict. Residential buildings and civilian infrastructure continued to be damaged due to Ukrainian air defense systems deployed in the centers of Ukrainian cities rather than the outskirts. “As a result, the wreckage of the missiles or stray Ukrainian missiles hit the facilities that we never targeted,” the Russian Foreign Ministry reiterated.
“We are launching strikes against the Ukrainian infrastructure in retaliation for the pumping of Ukraine with Western weapons,” Russia’s Foreign Ministry claimed, adding that the Ukrainian army and its Western coalition “threaten Russia’s security and territorial integrity.”
“Western states are trying to establish their geopolitical hegemony by proxy at the expense of Ukrainian lives,” the Russian Foreign Ministry added.