MOSCOW, Apr 9 - RIA Novosti. The leader of the Swedish Democrats party, Jimmy Okesson, said that he would call on the party to support Sweden's membership in NATO if Finland applied to the North Atlantic Alliance.
"If Finland moves (towards NATO) very quickly, they say about June, then the issue will really turn upside down. Then we should, in my opinion, also start this process as soon as possible... Then my goal is to appeal to the party's board with a request to change our opinion (about Sweden's membership in NATO)," Okesson said in an interview with the newspaper Svenska Dagbladet.
Earlier, the leader of the opposition Moderate Coalition Party Ulf Kristersson said that Sweden should apply for NATO membership in June this year.
Finland and Sweden have started talking about the possibility of abandoning long-term neutrality and joining NATO against the background of the Russian military special operation in Ukraine.
Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine on February 24. President Vladimir Putin called its goal "the protection of people who have been subjected to bullying and genocide by the Kiev regime for eight years." To do this, according to him, it is planned to carry out the "demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine", to bring to justice all war criminals responsible for "bloody crimes against civilians" of Donbass.
According to the statement of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, the Armed Forces are striking only at the military infrastructure and Ukrainian troops and, on March 25, completed the main tasks of the first stage – significantly reduced the combat potential of Ukraine. The main goal in the Russian military department was called the liberation of Donbass.
