The demands formulated by Moscow on NATO, in particular on the freezing of its enlargement in Europe, are
"completely unacceptable"
, affirmed Monday Sweden, non-member but partner state of the Atlantic Alliance.
"We are not going to enter NATO either now or later, but it is an entirely Swedish decision which does not concern anyone else,"
Swedish Defense Minister Peter Hultqvist said in an interview with the daily.
Dagens Nyheter
.
Read alsoRussia: Putin details his demands to contain NATO
The aim of Moscow's proposals is
"to create a Russian sphere of influence where the Russian side exerts influence over countries in our close neighborhood." We would also be affected and that is why it is completely unacceptable to us, ”
he said. Russia unveiled on Friday treaty proposals to drastically limit American and NATO influence in its neighborhood, at a time when Moscow is accused of preparing an offensive against Ukraine. The two texts presented, one concerning NATO and the other the United States, provide in particular to prohibit any expansion of this military alliance and the establishment of American military bases in the countries of the former Soviet space. .
If Sweden, as Pete Hultqvist reminds us, does not have the project of joining NATO, it moved closer to it at the end of the Cold War, gradually turning the page on strict neutrality. Although the current Social Democratic government is not in favor, several Swedish parties want their country to subscribe to a “Nato option”, like neighboring Finland. This
"option"
allows for accelerated enrollment. Beyond the sensitive issue of membership, other points pose a problem on the Swedish side, such as the Russian requirement that NATO soldiers not go to the territory of countries which were not members of it. 1997.
“We definitely don't want to have a setting where others would decree who we can train with or what we can do with others,”
said Pete Hultqvist. Washington said it was
"ready to discuss"
the Russian proposals on Friday even if
"the documents include certain things that the Russians know are unacceptable",
according to a senior American official. Russia cannot
"impose its views"
to NATO on regional security, said the new German Defense Minister on Sunday during a trip to Lithuania.
Even before the presentation of the Russian documents, Finland, a former Russian province until 1917 and a border country of Russia, had rejected any interference in its sovereign choice to eventually join NATO.