Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said that further expansion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) would receive a response from Moscow.
“There is a reaction to every action, and, accordingly, without concrete measures on our part, it is no longer possible to look at the sharp deterioration in the security situation that has occurred in recent years,” Ryabkov told reporters, Sputnik reports. adding that “further expansion (NATO) will be met with an appropriate countervailing response from Russia.”
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg welcomed the entry of Finland and Sweden into the alliance, noting that this would “strengthen the alliance’s presence in the far north”, which Moscow regards as a signal from NATO aimed at confrontation.
Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov has repeatedly warned that further NATO expansion will not make Europe more secure, and Russia has announced unprecedented alliance activity along its western borders in recent years.
