Finland’s NATO Entry to Undermine Northern Europe's Security, Says Senior Russian Diplomat

According to Sergey Ryabkov, Finland and Sweden fell victim to "the Russophobic frenzy" and failed to put their interests about those of the collective West

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov Russian Foreign Ministry/TASS

MOSCOW, April 4. /TASS/. Security in Northern Europe will decline rather than increase in the wake of Finland’s joining NATO, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov told Rossiya-24 television on Tuesday.

"The security of these Nordic countries will not increase, but rather decline as a result of this (Finland’s accession to NATO - TASS)," Ryabkov said.

Among other things, Moscow will take compensatory measures in the military-technical sphere, the senior Russian diplomat warned. "Everything will be adjusted to the changing environment," he said. "Any threats from the northern flank toward us will be fended off," he added.

According to Ryabkov, Finland and Sweden fell victim to "the Russophobic frenzy" and failed to put their interests about those of the collective West.

In May 2022, Finland and Sweden applied to join NATO, but their entry bid was stonewalled by Ankara. Turkey demanded that the Nordic countries designate Kurdish organizations as terrorist and extradite those accused of terrorism or aiding and abetting the attempted coup in Turkey in 2016. In order to settle these disagreements in the run-up to the NATO summit in 2022, Stockholm, Helsinki and Ankara signed a joint memorandum. The document contained a roadmap of practical steps that Ankara insisted the two Nordic countries should take if they want to join the military alliance.