Russia promises to take “retaliatory measures” over Sweden’s NATO membership

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Sweden cleared the final hurdle on its path to becoming the alliance’s 32nd member on Monday when Hungary’s parliament finally approved the country’s NATO membership.

“Russia will take retaliatory political and military-technical measures to reduce the threat to its national security,” the embassy said in a post on the Telegram platform.

The embassy added that their “concrete content” will depend on the extent of Sweden’s NATO integration, “including the possibility of deploying NATO troops, military facilities and weapons in this country.”

Sweden abandoned two centuries of military neutrality when it applied for NATO membership along with Finland following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

“Choosing one’s own security policy is a personal matter for Sweden. At the same time, the country’s entry into a military alliance hostile to Russia will have a negative impact on stability in Northern Europe and around the Baltic Sea, which still belongs to all of us,” the Russian embassy said in a statement.

The embassy stressed that the Baltics will never become a “NATO lake”, as some commentators call it. Sweden’s membership means that all countries around the Baltic Sea, except Russia, are now members of NATO.