PRESS RELEASE

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Sweden and Finland Agree: They Are Not Threatened by Russia

June 25, 2016 (EIRNS)—If NATO has "rediscovered" its core mission because of the supposed threat from Russia, then Sweden and Finland are challenging that notion, even if the language is relatively mild. The upshot of a two-day summit meeting between Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Löfven and Finnish President Sauli Niinistö in Finland that ended on June 20, is that the two countries agreed on closer military cooperation, but not on a formal alliance with each other or on NATO membership, reported Defense News, yesterday.

"We will continue to improve military cooperation with Finland. We have no ambition that this will result in a defense alliance, and nor are we seeking it,"

Löfven said. The two leaders generally agreed that, while the security picture in the greater Baltic region is destabilized, Russia does not pose a direct security threat to either Finland or Sweden. "Russia presents no concrete, clearly discernible threat to our security," Niinistö said. This situational appraisal by both Sweden and Finland, said Löfven, contributes to Sweden’s view that joining NATO is not an option for the unaligned Nordic country at the present time.