The head of the State Duma of Russia, Vyacheslav Volodin, said that “the deployment of NATO bases on the territory of Finland and Sweden will not protect these two countries, but, on the contrary, will endanger the cities of military infrastructure.”

In a statement on social media, he indicated that “Finnish Lappeenranta Mayor Kimo Jarak believes that such an issue will create a sense of security”, emphasizing that “he is wrong, in the case of the outbreak of hostilities, the strikes are mainly on military infrastructure enemy.

On May 18, the authorities of Finland and Sweden filed a formal application to join NATO, and they were supposed to receive an invitation to join the NATO summit in Madrid, but this was opposed by Turkey. In Madrid, Foreign Ministers of Turkey, Sweden and Finland Cavusoglu, Anne Linde and Pekka Haavisto, in the presence of NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, signed an agreement that removes barriers for the two countries to join the alliance.

The agreement provides for cooperation with Ankara in the fight against terrorism, especially against the PKK and its offshoots. The Turkish authorities initially demanded written commitments from Sweden and Finland to combat terrorism. In this context, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday that “Sweden has promised to extradite 73 people involved in terrorist activities to Ankara.”