With Turkey no longer opposed, Sweden' s accession to NATO will be NATO ,the Nordic country is getting closer and closer to joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. On the eve of the Lithuania summit, Jens Stoltenberg met with Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Ulf Kristersson, who then happily posed for the cameras. They defined that the Turkish Prime Minister will send to his parliament the proposal of accession, something that was celebrated by his Swedish counterpart but not so much in Russian lands.
The Kremlin was quick to react to the possibility of another country that is geographically close to its own joining the alliance. According to Dmitry Peskov, Vladimir Putin's press secretary, Russia has already begun to evaluate possible countermeasures if Sweden joins NATO.
Without going into much detail, he assured that they are closely following the summit that brought together the 31 leaders in Lithuania and that the expansion of the alliance to the east is one of themain causes of the current scenario, in a clear reference to the invasion of Ukraine.
Peskov also spoke about the possibility of Volodomir Zelensky 's country joining NATO, which they have already clarified will not happen in the near future. Although the Kremlin has already made it clear that Ukraine's membership in the military alliance would lead to a direct confrontation between Western allies and Russia, the official added that "it is potentially very dangerous for European security" and "carries very great risks."
Zelensky, who will meet with Stoltenberg on Wednesday, took to Twitter criticizing the delay. "We value our allies. But Ukraine also deserves respect. It is absurd and unprecedented when (a) deadline is set neither for the invitation nor for Ukraine's membership. While at the same time adding vague wording on 'conditions' even for inviting Ukraine," he said.
