Russia creates new military unit in response to NATO expansion
General Shoigu announced that Russia will create 12 new military units in the West in response to NATO's planned admission of two Nordic countries.
"Finland and Sweden have appliedapply to join NATO"Tensions continue to increase in the area under the responsibility of the Western Military District," General Sergey Shoigu, Russian Defense Minister, said at a meeting on May 20. "By the end of the year, the Western Military District will form 12 military units."
General Shoigu said the Russian military expected to receive more than 2,000 units of military equipment and weapons, but did not provide details. He said the strategic situation in the West was characterized by growing military threats near Russia's borders.
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| Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. Photo: Reuters |
"Over the past eight years, flights of US strategic bombers in Europe have increased 15-fold. US warships carrying guided missiles systematically enter the Baltic Sea," General Shoigu said.
General Shoigu gave the above information after Sweden and Finland submitted their applications to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on May 18, ending the neutrality policy that the two countries have maintained for a long time.
Mr. Stoltenberg repeatedly affirmed 2Nordic countries will be NATOwelcomed with "open arms", but the immediate obstacle for them is opposition from Türkiye, a member state of the bloc.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on May 16 did not criticize Finland and Sweden for joining NATO, but warned that expanding military infrastructure on the territory of the two countries would trigger a response from Moscow. "Concrete actions will be based on the threat they pose to Russia," Putin said.
Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev warned in April that Moscow would be forced to restore the military balance by strengthening its defenses in the Baltic region, including deploying nuclear weapons there, if Stockholm and Helsinki joined NATO.
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| 7 Decades of NATO's Eastward Advance in Europe. Graphic: Statista |
Finland has a border of more than 1,300 km with Russia. They became neutral through the Friendship Treaty with the Soviet Union in 1948, hoping to prevent a repeat of the 1939 Finnish-Soviet War that killed more than 80,000 Finnish soldiers.
Throughout the Cold War, the Nordic country maintained a non-aligned stance, despite the influence of both the Soviet Union and the United States. After the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, Finland gradually shifted its foreign policy focus to the West, marked by its decision to join the EU in 1995.
Sweden followed a similar path after the end of the Cold War, joining the EU in 1995 and increasing its cooperation with NATO. Sweden has avoided joining any military alliance for more than 200 years.
