Sweden official dismisses Russian NATO warning

Foreign Minister Ann Linde told Swedish news agency TT on Saturday that “Russia has nothing to do with our independent decisions,” referring to the Stockholm’s possible move to join NATO.

Russia’s Interfax news agency on Saturday quoted a Russian Foreign Ministry official saying the possible accession of Sweden and neighboring Finland to NATO would have serious military and political consequences.

Sergei Belyayev, the head of department for Nordic countries at the Russian Foreign Ministry, said such a situation would require Russia to take “retaliatory measures” but didn’t specify what those measures could include.

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