Quoting the Global Times news on April 8, according to a report released by Reuters on April 7, a senior official of the US State Department, who did not want to be named, said that at the NATO foreign ministers' meeting in Brussels, the issue of recruiting Finland and Sweden as new members was discussed. The unnamed official said NATO's doors are always open to countries that share common values. On the same day, Russian presidential press secretary Eskov made it clear in an interview with British media that if Finland and Sweden eventually join NATO, then Russia will have to take the necessary measures to "rebalance the situation", Peskov said that Russia will make its own security a top priority, so the situation in western Russia will become more complicated in the future.
Finland and Sweden 'lightning accession' to NATO this time is not without warning, since the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, the Finnish people's support for joining NATO has risen sharply. According to data from pollsters, 61 percent of the Finnish population supports NATO.
Sweden, as an internationally renowned neutral country, has also undergone a significant change in attitude towards the issue of joining NATO, with about 60% of the Swedish people supporting becoming a full member of NATO together with Finland. Swedish Prime Minister Andersson publicly rejected the call to join NATO on March 8, but on March 30, Anderson suddenly changed his mouth to say that he would not rule out the possibility of joining NATO, and Finnish President Niinistö said on the same day that the support from public opinion cleared the way for the country to join NATO without a referendum.
In fact, as early as February, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zakharova clearly warned that Russia will regard the military non-alignment commitment of Finland and Sweden as an important indicator to ensure the security and stability of the Nordic region, zakharova stressed that once Sweden and Finland join NATO, there will be serious military and political consequences, and Russia will respond to this. Jabarov, vice chairman of the International Affairs Committee of the Russian Federation Committee, said that the Finnish people have pragmatic and intelligent minds and are unlikely to put their country on the road to national subjugation.
It is not difficult to see that Russia attaches great importance to whether Finland and Sweden join NATO, the Russian-Ukrainian conflict has made the world see the Kremlin's red line for national security, and Finland from the geographical point of view, the strategic threat to Russia is not weaker than Ukraine, but Finland has been excluded from joining NATO in the past, and Sweden has pursued a neutral policy for more than half a century, which has saved Northern Europe from war.
However, the United States' instigation of Ukraine and its provocation of Russia eventually took the form of war, which gave Sweden and Finland a strong sense of crisis. For Finland and Sweden, the current situation in Europe is full of uncertainty, even if it does not join NATO, but at the instigation of the West, it is difficult to guarantee that war will not come to them. Therefore, in his party speech on April 2, Finnish Prime Minister Marin repeatedly stressed that any attempt to join NATO must be made quickly and decisively, while Marin also pointed out that whether it eventually joins NATO or not, Finland will face a severe external environment in the future.
In fact, from the moment the Russian-Ukrainian conflict broke out in full swing, although the pace of NATO's eastward expansion stopped, the speed of northward expansion accelerated, and the absorption of Finland and Sweden could also point directly to Russia's key points. For the United States, the true ruler of NATO, Europe will have no more unity for a long time to come, the United States will use the crisis to gain more supporters, and Europe will pay the price for its past anti-Russian line. For the whole world, the serial crisis caused by the Russian-Ukrainian conflict is beginning to develop in an extremely dangerous direction, and nuclear war is no longer a rhetorical term.