Putin threatens as Sweden and Finland move closer to NATO membership

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“We are now analyzing all the security options for Sweden,” Defense Minister Peter Hultqvist claimed at the event.

“NATO membership is one of the options but there are also other options we will analyze. We will come up with a report in the middle or end of May, on what we should do in the future.

“The reason why this happened is not Finland [and] what they are doing. The reason is what Russia is doing – that they have started a war in Ukraine. That’s the fundamental thing 100%.

“They are the bad guys. They are doing bad things and have to react in some way”.

Finland’s Prime Minister Sanna Marin told reporters the country will decide whether to apply to join NATO “within weeks.” And there have already been long debates in the 200-seat Eduskunta legislature.

Finland shares the EU’s longest border with Russia, an area of 1,340-kilometers (833-miles). The proximity is troublesome.  Marin said it was time for her nation to seriously reconsider where they stand on their foreign policy. 

She said: “Russia is not the neighbor we thought it was. I think we will have very careful discussions, but we are also not taking any more time than we have to in this process, because the situation is, of course, very severe.”