Russian official accuses NATO of swallowing Finland and Sweden

Russian Security Council Deputy Secretary Aleksandr Venediktov accused NATO of expanding eastward and moving closer to Russia’s borders since the start of the full-scale war in Ukraine, LRT reported.

Speaking at an international conference on Eurasian security in Minsk, Venediktov said NATO had “swallowed Finland and Sweden” despite earlier promises not to expand eastward. Russia’s state news agency TASS quoted him as saying that the alliance would continue drawing Moldova, Ukraine and Armenia into its orbit.

Venediktov also claimed that European countries were publicly discussing preparations for a direct armed clash with Russia in the next few years. He said the rhetoric was accompanied by unprecedented investment in the military industry, on a scale comparable only with the Second World War.

He said Moscow was also concerned by France’s plans to provide a “nuclear umbrella” to some European Union and NATO countries.

Finland and Sweden abandoned their long-standing policy of military neutrality and applied to join NATO after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. Vladimir Putin said Russia did not have the same problems with the two countries as it did with Ukraine.

NATO has repeatedly denied making legal or political promises not to expand eastward. Alliance representatives have said, however, that before Russia’s attack they had not planned to admit Ukraine. The Kremlin has cited the threat of NATO expansion as one reason for its invasion of Ukraine.