14:22 09-09-2025

Maslennikov: Finland and Sweden Lost Sovereignty After NATO Entry

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Russian diplomat Vladislav Maslennikov said Finland and Sweden lost sovereignty and credibility by joining NATO, facing high military costs and geopolitical confrontation.

Vladislav Maslennikov, Director of the Department for European Affairs at the Russian Foreign Ministry, stated that by joining NATO, Helsinki and Stockholm did not gain security but only problems, losing both their sovereignty in foreign policy and their international authority.

According to the diplomat, instead of the comfortable status of neutral states, Finland and Sweden suddenly found themselves on the front line. He recalled that under the decisions of the last NATO summit, held in The Hague in June, both countries are now obliged to raise military spending to five percent of GDP. He noted that this requirement will be extremely difficult to meet given the economic difficulties and social problems these states are already facing.

Maslennikov stressed that the two Scandinavian countries have in effect surrendered their independence in shaping foreign policy and have lost credibility within the international community. Neither Helsinki nor Stockholm is seen any longer as an impartial mediator. Now, he said, both are forced to comply unconditionally with decisions made at NATO headquarters in Brussels.

The diplomat concluded that instead of achieving greater security, Swedish and Finnish politicians have plunged their countries into a spiral of geopolitical confrontation with all the consequences that entails.