NATO Says Has No Plans for Bases in Sweden, Finland

By Staff, Agencies

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization [NATO] said it has no plans to deploy troops and infrastructure to Sweden and Finland once the two Nordic countries become a member of the Western military alliance, as the process to ratify Sweden and Finland as the newest members of the 30-member bloc has been formally launched.

NATO Deputy Secretary General Mircea Geoana made the remark on Tuesday, saying the US-led military alliance would lean on the "formidable national forces" of the two countries in the face of a potential ‘Russian attack.’

"We don't plan to have an additional presence in either country, they have formidable national forces. They're capable of defending themselves," Geoana said.

"We don't plan to have NATO bases in these two countries, because they have a very high level of military and strategic maturity," he added.

The remarks came after NATO's 30 allies signed an accession protocol for Finland and Sweden, allowing them to join the nuclear-armed alliance once the parliaments of individual members ratify the decision.

Geoana further expressed hope that "the process will be completed quickly," saying "many countries have already launched" steps toward ratification, although he declined to lay out a precise timetable.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg also said, "I count on allies to deliver a quick and swift and smooth ratification process."

The signing is the most significant expansion of the alliance since the 1990s and it follows a deal with Turkey at last week's NATO summit in Madrid, where Ankara lifted its veto on the Nordic membership bids. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier warned that his country would respond in kind if NATO deployed military contingents and infrastructure in Finland and Sweden. Moscow has repeatedly warned against the alliance's further expansion toward its borders.

Citing ‘security concerns,’ Finland and Sweden applied to join NATO after Russia started a special military operation in Ukraine on February 24. At the time, Putin said one of the goals of the operation was to "de-Nazify" Ukraine.

Since the start of Russia's offensive, the US and its allies have imposed unprecedented sanctions on Moscow and have flooded Ukraine with advanced weapons. Russia has said the Western flood of weapons into Ukraine and the sanctions would prolong the ongoing war.