"Russia has always perceived Sweden and Finland as de facto members of NATO" Stanislav Mitrakhovich for Caliber.Az

Commenting on the twists and turns of Sweden and Finland joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), National Energy Security Fund expert and researcher at the Financial University under the Russian government Stanislav Mitrakhovich said in an interview with Caliber.Az that the step of the two Nordic countries should be regarded as a vivid example of commitment to democracy.

Mitrakhovich emphasized that Russia had good relations with many countries - both NATO members and those that were going to join the alliance - until February 2022. It didn't work out only with Ukraine and for absolutely specific reasons.

"Ukraine is seen by Russia as a country that was planning a military operation against Donbass and Crimea. Moreover, Kyiv stated at the level of its deputies that the Kuban was Ukrainian territory. In other words, the Russian Federation had far more problems with Ukraine than it did with the countries of the North Atlantic Alliance. And in general, until the events of February, Russia maintained quite good relations with many NATO countries, and the attitude to these countries was much better than toward Ukraine, which was not a member of the military-political bloc. This is not only a matter of NATO status but also of specific political relations with a specific state and its leadership, which allows itself to do whatever it wants," the Russian expert said.

At the same time, according to Mitrakhovich, the Russian leadership has always perceived Sweden and Finland as de facto members of NATO.

"Sweden and Finland," says the political scientist, "have never been full-fledged neutral states. This is all propaganda. Sweden has long been involved in NATO military operations - in Libya, in Afghanistan. Not to mention the exercises of the alliance, which were almost never missed at all. So on the level of military factuality, nothing will change in Sweden, as it has always been part of the Western military bloc. Some people liked it, some people didn't. But one way or another, nothing has changed in this respect.

Finland is also a very close partner of NATO for a long time. It has participated in all military-strategic plans of the alliance. Therefore, there is no fundamental change here either. These countries are not fully neutral. As for the fact that Russia itself pushed them to join NATO, I think that public opinion in these countries has changed based on the situation with the Ukrainian crisis."

At the same time, the Russian expert suggests that as a response to the Scandinavians' application to the alliance, Moscow may deploy additional armed forces on its borders with these countries.

"There may be some military preparations, some additional armed forces may be deployed on the borders close to these states. Including, perhaps, nuclear installations. Although I don't think there could be a war or anything else because of that. And without joining NATO, there was always no doubt that if a war broke out, Sweden and Finland would take part in it on the side of the Western military bloc. So some kind of nuclear or non-nuclear weapons would be deployed near the borders. So to speak, missiles from islands in the Baltic Sea, which are under Russian control, would take only a couple of minutes to fly to Stockholm. If this state of affairs suits Sweden and Finland, then it is their choice," Mitrakhovich concluded.