“If Finland and Sweden join the alliance, they will turn into a space for confrontation between the North Atlantic bloc and Russia, with all the ensuing consequences, including for our time-tested good neighborly relations,” she said in an interview with the Spanish newspaper ABC.
She also expressed doubt that this is what the peoples of these two countries are striving for, RIA Novosti reported.
Finland and Sweden started talking about the possibility of abandoning their long-term neutrality and joining NATO against the backdrop of the Russian "military operation" in Ukraine.
The alliance expects these countries to make their own decisions about possible membership in the coming "months and weeks," US Permanent Representative to NATO Julianne Smith said.
Russia has repeatedly noted that NATO aims at confrontation. Press Secretary of the President of Russia Dmitry Peskov said that further expansion of the alliance would not bring greater security to Europe.
At the same time, he noted that he did not consider the possible entry of Sweden and Finland into NATO an existential threat to Russia.