The Swedish Foreign Ministry is taking Russian Ambassador Viktor Tatarintsev to task.
Tatarintsev ruffled Stockholm’s feathers after having offered his view on Sweden joining NATO. According to the ambassador, Sweden—as well as Finland—would become legitimate targets if they join the military alliance.
Noting that through Finland and Sweden’s membership, the total length of Russia’s border with the NATO bloc would “almost double,” Tatarintsev remarked that this, despite whatever calculation both countries had made before applying, would do anything but bolster their security.
“If anyone still believes that this will somehow improve Europe’s security, you can be sure that the new members of the hostile bloc will become a legitimate target for Russia’s retaliatory measures, including military ones,” a lengthy and highly provocative post, uploaded on March 29th on the embassy’s official Facebook page, reads.
While Tatarintsev criticized the country’s support of Ukraine, he also described Sweden as gradually becoming an American colony.
Sweden has steadily, step by step, been deprived of its sovereignty when it comes to foreign policy and is prepared to be obediently transformed into another American colony … Sweden, ignoring its own defense capabilities, is rapidly increasing deliveries [to Ukraine] of heavy offensive equipment, including taking it out of combat service.
Swedish volunteers are joining Ukrainian military forces and, by some extraordinary coincidence, are part of the Defence Forces’ continuous service personnel.
A response from the Swedish Foreign Ministry came swiftly. The same day, it said it would summon Tatarintsev to complain about an “attempt at interference” with the country’s NATO application process.
In a separate statement to the news agency TT, Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billström reiterated that message, saying his department was “summoning the Russian ambassador to protest this obvious attempt at interference.”
Shortly following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Sweden and Finland sought NATO membership, a process which they seek to expedite and complete before this year’s end. While Turkey—following Hungary’s example—on Thursday, March 30th ratified Finland’s bid for NATO accession, that of Sweden has come upon a double-snag, as it is still vetoed by Turkey while suffering a delay on Hungary’s part.
