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Finland and Sweden’s NATO membership would put Russia in a difficult military position in the Baltic Sea, Senior US General Mark Milley said on Saturday during a visit to Stockholm on the eve of a military exercise.
The two Nordic neighbors, who have a long border line in the Baltic Sea, applied last month to join the military alliance amid security concerns after Russia launched aggression against Ukraine in February, despite facing Turkish opposition.
Their membership would mean that the coastline of the Russian cities of Kaliningrad and St. Petersburg on the Baltic Sea would be surrounded by NATO members.
“From the Russian perspective, this would be very problematic for them, militarily, and it would be very useful for NATO,” said Chief of General Staff Mark Milley.
“The Baltic is very important from a strategic point of view, it is one of the largest sea lanes in the world,” added General Milley.
He was speaking at a joint news conference with his Swedish counterpart, the Swedish prime minister and the Swedish defense minister ahead of the annual NATO exercise in the Baltic Sea, which is being attended by Sweden and Finland.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said last month that there was no threat to Russia if Sweden and Finland joined NATO, though he warned that Moscow would respond if the US-led alliance strengthens the military infrastructure of the new Nordic members.
Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson described General Milley’s visit as a concrete demonstration of the assurances that President Joe Biden gave her and Finnish President Sauli Niinisto when they were in Washington in May.
“This is a strong signal to the world. “It also shows that the security guarantees that President Biden spoke about very openly in the White House are followed by concrete action,” she said.
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