While President Vladimir declared on Monday, May 16, that there is no threat whatsoever to Russia if Sweden and Finland decide to join NATO, he also cautioned that Moscow would have a certain response in case the U.S.-led alliance bolstered military infrastructure in those countries.
Putin is the paramount leader of Russia since 1999 and has repeatedly mentioned that one of the reasons why he would invade Ukraine is because of the post-Soviet enlargement of the NATO alliance toward Russia’s borders.
However, the same Putin, who most recently declared war on Ukraine and rattled the Russian nuclear arsenal at the West, had an oddly calm response to Finland and Sweden’s actions to join NATO.
In fact, Putin told the leaders of the Russian-dominated military alliance of ex-Soviet states: “Russia has no problem whatsoever with these states, none. So in this matter, there’s no immediate threat to Russia if NATO expands to these countries.
