The Kremlin’s reaction to the Swedish move from Türkiye

A critical threshold was crossed yesterday in the confusion over Sweden’s NATO membership, which has been going on for more than a year.

In Lithuania, where the NATO Leaders Summit was held, President Erdoğan met yesterday with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson. As a result of the meeting, Turkey approved Sweden’s membership in NATO, and this decision was welcomed by the NATO bloc.

But today, a remarkable statement came from the Kremlin. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov made a statement today after the membership approval of Sweden, which wants to join NATO because of the war between Russia and Ukraine.

Peskov said Sweden’s NATO membership would have a negative impact on Russia’s security. Peskov also stressed that the steps that the Moscow administration takes after Finland’s accession will be taken in a similar way.

“Russia and Turkey have some differences of opinion, but they also share some common interests. Russia wants to improve its relations with Ankara.”