Russia will respond to the increased size of NATO amid the prospect of Sweden joining, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said amidst the alliance meeting in Lithuania.
Lavrov's comments to Russian state-owned media on Tuesday come on the first day of NATO's summit in Vilnius and follow the decision by Turkey to drop its objections to Stockholm's membership.
The minister said that Moscow was amazed "at the speed Finland and Sweden abandoned their neutral status." In May 2022, Finland announced with Sweden that it would join NATO in light of the threat posed by Russia following the country's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Finland joined in April, but Sweden's NATO bid was held up by Ankara over concerns it said it had on how Stockholm dealt with groups Turkey considers terrorists.
Regarding NATO expansion, Lavrov said on Tuesday, "I assure you we are taking adequate steps well in advance," state news agency RIA reported.
Russia also warned on Tuesday against the prospect of Ukraine joining NATO, which is a key talking point at the summit.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Ukraine's membership of NATO would be "very dangerous for European security" and that "those who will make the decision should be aware of this," according to RIA Novosti.
NATO backs Ukraine against Russian aggression but several members, notably the United States, oppose giving Ukraine a timetable for membership.
Under Article 5 of NATO's charter, an attack against one member is an attack against all, and if Kyiv joined, any broken ceasefire with Russia in Ukraine could lead to a direct conflict between Moscow and the alliance.
Oleksandra Matviichuk, a Nobel Prize winner who heads the Kyiv-based non-profit organization Centre for Civil Liberties said starting Ukraine's accession to NATO would be "a way to end the war" Russia started and that Ukrainians expect "concrete results" from the summit.
"Ukraine deserves to be a member of NATO," she said in a statement to Newsweek. "The time for assurances that the door to NATO is open has passed. They should be transformed into decisions that allow starting the process of accession.
"Ukraine will be not just a beneficiary, but a powerful contributor to the security of [the] alliance. These are not promises, this is a fact proven on the battlefield. Ukraine will make NATO stronger."
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky tweeted on Tuesday that it was "absurd" that Kyiv has not got a proper accession timetable.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that Ukraine has become closer to the alliance and that he was confident the wording of the summit's communique would be positive for Kyiv's membership.
Update 07/11/23, 9:08 a.m. ET: This article was updated with comment from Oleksandra Matviichuk and additional information.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Brendan Cole is a Newsweek Senior News Reporter based in London, UK. His focus is Russia and Ukraine, in particular ... Read more
