
President Vladimir Putin has stated that Russia will respond in the same way if NATO were to deploy troops and military infrastructure in Finland and Sweden after they join the US-led alliance.
"With Sweden and Finland, we do not have the problems we have with Ukraine. "They want to join NATO, go on," Putin told Russian state television after talks with regional leaders in the former Soviet Central Asian state of Turkmenistan.
"But they need to understand that there has been no threat before, and now, if military contingents and infrastructure are deployed there, we will have to respond and create the same threats to the territories from which the threats against us are created," he said. said the Russian president.
He added that it was inevitable that Moscow's relations with Helsinki and Stockholm would deteriorate due to their NATO membership.
"Everything was fine between us, but now there may be some tension, of course there will be," he said. "It is inevitable if there is a threat to us," he added.
Putin made the comment after Turkey, a NATO member, lifted its veto on Finland and Sweden to join the alliance after the three countries agreed to protect each other's security.
The move means Helsinki and Stockholm could continue their application to join NATO, marking the biggest change in European security in decades.