"You will become a target if you join NATO"; Ambassador urgently summoned
Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs invited Russian Ambassador for a hearing due to the post of Moscow's diplomatic mission in Stockholm on their website.
Source: Tanjug
Namely, the Russian embassy in Sweden announced on its website that the Scandinavian country will become a legitimate target of Russian retaliatory measures if it joins NATO.
For now, it is not known when the Russian Ambassador will appear at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the head of Swedish diplomacy, Tobias Billström, condemned what he called an "obvious attempt to exert influence", AP reported.
Billström told the Swedish news agency TT that the country's security policy is determined by its government and no one else.
In May last year, Sweden and neighboring Finland angered Russia when, after decades of neutrality, they jointly applied for NATO membership following Russia's attack on Ukraine in February 2022.
Sweden's candidacy was opposed by Turkey, whose president Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that his country would not ratify membership before the dispute between Ankara and Stockholm is resolved.
The Turkish government has accused Sweden of being too "soft" on what it considers to be terrorist organizations.
The Hungarian parliament also needs to ratify Sweden's candidacy for NATO membership, and for now it is not known when it will do so.
