The refusal of the North Atlantic Alliance to implement the Russia-NATO Founding Act allows the alliance to conduct military exercises near Russian borders and arrange provocations. This was announced on May 4 in the Telegram channel by Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of Russia Dmitry Medvedev.
According to Medvedev, the consequence of NATO’s decision will be the “smuggling” of nuclear weapons into Sweden and Finland, and the holding of provocative exercises near the borders of Russia.
“They did this before, but at least there was this political declaration that we referred to,” he wrote.
As Medvedev recalled, the Russia-NATO act is not a true international treaty subject to ratification. The West is trying to apply a “legal clause” to the political document, which consists in the fact that the agreement remains valid for the parties only as long as the circumstances that led to its conclusion persist, he stressed.
Earlier Wednesday, the head of the NATO Military Committee, Rob Bauer, noted that the 1997 act concluded with the Russian side would not stop the expansion of the bloc’s military presence in Eastern Europe. He added that for several months he unsuccessfully tried to contact the head of the General Staff of the Russian Federation, Valery Gerasimov.
The Russia-NATO act assumes that the alliance will not place nuclear weapons and create places for their storage on the territory of the new member countries of the bloc, Gazeta.Ru notes. Also since 1997, NATO and Russia pledged not to consider each other as opponents, to exchange information on military doctrines, budgets and other areas.
On May 2, the Finnish newspaper Iltalehti, citing sources, reported that Finland would announce its decision to join NATO on May 12.
On April 27, the Finnish newspaper Ilta Sanomaat, citing Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto, reported that Finland and Sweden could announce NATO membership at the same time. According to the publication, this could be announced as early as May 16.
On April 15, the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, announced the negative consequences for peace and stability in northern Europe when Finland and Sweden join NATO. The authorities of these countries should understand the consequences of such a decision for bilateral relations with Russia, as well as for the European security architecture in general, the diplomat noted.
On April 3, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that the North Atlantic Alliance would find ways to quickly accept Finland and Sweden into its membership if they wanted to join the bloc.
At the end of 2021, Moscow published a draft security treaty with the United States and its allies. The Russian side insisted on the termination of NATO’s military cooperation with the post-Soviet countries, the refusal to create bases on their territory and the non-expansion of the alliance to the east. There was no constructive answer to this.
