Vladimir Putin does not rule out that the NATO agreement between Turkey, Sweden and Finland will create friction in relations between the countries.
He says this to the Russian state-controlled news agency Interfax.
Sweden, Finland and Turkey: Agree
“Russia will respond with similar force if NATO’s infrastructure is deployed in Finland and Sweden,” Putin told Ria, another state-controlled news agency.
Putin has also stated that he does not want to set an end date for the war in Ukraine, which from the Russian side is referred to as a “military special operation”.
Deal
It was Tuesday that Turkey, which has previously vetoed Sweden’s and Finland’s applications for NATO membership, reversed.
An agreement was presented at the Defense Alliance’s summit in Madrid, which means, among other things, that persons accused of terrorism with links to the Kurdish PKK militia can be extradited to Turkey.
It has so far been quiet from the official Russian side about the agreement. The exception is a proposal from Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, who says the agreement will not affect Russia’s relations with Turkey.
Clear signal
Retired Lieutenant General Arne Bård Dalhaug, for his part, did not think Russia would come up with a special reaction to this when the news broke on Tuesday.
Yet he describes it as a clear signal.
“This is a clear signal that when Turkey first has to choose sides, they will choose NATO and the West, and not Putin’s Russia,” the retired lieutenant general told Dagbladet.
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