MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Earlier, Russia Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that Russia would respond in military-technical terms on its northern borders if Sweden decides to join NATO.
“Currently the development is being finalized on a new modern generation of missiles that have not been announced. They will be impregnable to NATO weapons, including air defense systems,” Evgeny Serebrennikov told RIA Novosti.
Russia will increase its military capabilities on its northern and northwestern borders, including a buildup of its Northern Fleet, if Sweden joins NATO, he elaborated.
“We’re talking not only about military-technical [capabilities], but their numbers as well. Russia will increase the number of its Armed Forces on the northern and northwestern borders, including in the Northern Fleet, if Sweden joins NATO,” Serebrennikov told RIA Novosti.
“Both Sweden and NATO need to make a conclusion,” he added.
Over the past years, pressure to ditch neutrality and embrace a turn toward NATO has been mounting for Sweden and Finland, which have traditionally remained non-aligned.
Since 2014, NATO has been building up its military presence in Europe, particularly in eastern European countries bordering Russia, using Moscow's alleged interference in Ukraine as a pretext for the move.
