Russian President, Vladimir Putin has said that the country would respond in kind if NATO deployed troops and infrastructure in Finland and Sweden after they join the U.S.-led military alliance.
Putin after talks with regional leaders in the ex-Soviet state of Turkmenistan, said it was inevitable that Moscow’s relations with Helsinki and Stockholm would sour over their NATO membership.
Putin added that the objectives of what Moscow calls its “special military operation” in Ukraine remained unchanged, that its goal was to “liberate” eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region and create conditions to ensure Russia’s security.