Russian Embassy in Stockholm threatens Sweden, Finland over NATO accession

The Russian Embassy in Stockholm has threatened Sweden and Finland with military retaliation if the two countries join the NATO alliance, pointing to the increasing number of Swedes expressing solidarity with Russia and shunning Stockholm’s ‘transatlantic ambitions’.

The post appeared on the embassy’s Facebook profile on Wednesday evening.

“If anyone still believes that this will somehow improve Europe’s security, you can be sure that the new members of the hostile bloc will become a legitimate target for Russia’s retaliatory measures, including military ones,” the post reads.

The Russian Embassy accused Sweden of gradually becoming an American colony and criticised the country’s support of Ukraine.

“Sweden has been steady, step by step, deprived of its foreign policy sovereignty and prepared for an obedient transformation into another American colony,” it added, noting that “Sweden, ignoring its own defence capabilities, is rapidly increasing deliveries of heavy offensive equipment, including taking it out of combat service.”

“Swedish volunteers are joining Ukrainian military forces and, by some extraordinary coincidence, are part of the Defence Forces’ continuous service personnel,” it added.

The Russian Embassy also claims that it has been receiving an increasing number of letters from Swedes who support Russia, though it declined to publish them.

“The embassy is receiving more and more letters from ordinary Swedes condemning Stockholm’s transatlantic ambitions and expressing their solidarity with Russia. We have already explained why we are not publishing them,” the statement reads.

Russia’s ambassador to Sweden, Viktor Tatarintsev, has been summoned to the Foreign Ministry, announced Foreign Minister Tobias Billström on Wednesday.

“It is important for Sweden to be able to protest against what is an obvious attempt at influence, and the most appropriate way to do this within diplomacy is to summon the ambassador and talk about it,” he said, adding that Sweden’s security policy is determined by Sweden and no one else.

(Charles Szumski | EURACTIV.com)