PM’s Swedish mission to bolster Ukraine backing

BORIS TALKS AS SCANDINAVIAN COUNTRIES PONDER NATO BID

BORIS Johnson was today heading to Sweden and Finland for talks on Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine as the two Nordic countries consider whether to join Nato.

Mr Johnson flew to Stockholm this morning to meet Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson before travelling on to Finland to meet Finnish President Sauli Niinisto

Although Number 10 has played down reports the UK was pressuring Sweden and Finland to join the military alliance to strengthen Europe’s defences against Russian aggression, Mr Johnson is expected to discuss broad security isssues with the countries’ leaders.

Becoming part of the military alliance would be a major geo-political shift for the Nordic nations.

Finland could announce a bid for membership within days, according to local reports, while Sweden is conducting a review of whether it should join.

Finland shares a border with Russia, and the Kremlin has repeatedlywarned of “serious consequences” if the two countries join the military alliance, including potentially stationing nuclear weapons in its Baltic enclave of Kaliningrad.

Downing Street said it was “disinformation” to suggest the prime minister was seeking to put pressure on them to join the western military alliance.

“We understand the positions of Sweden and Finland and that is why the Prime Minister is going to discuss these broader security issues,” the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said.

Mr Johnson held talks with Ms Andersson and Mr Niinisto in March as part of a meeting of the Joint Expeditionary Force nations, which includes Denmark, Estonia, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania the Netherlands and Norway.

Finland shares a lengthy land border with Russia and is only about 250 miles from St Petersburg. The visit came after US intelligence warned Vladimir Putin is preparing for a long war in Ukraine, with even victory in the east potentially not ending the conflict.

Avril Haines, the director of national intelligence, told a US Senate committee hearing yesterday that the Russian leader was still intending “to achieve goals beyond the Donbas”, but that he “faces a mismatch between his ambitions and Russia’s current conventional military capabilities”.

She added that the Russian president was “probably” counting on US and EU support for Ukraine to weaken as inflation, food shortages and energy prices got worse. However, the Russian president could turn to “more drastic means” as the war continues — although Moscow would only use nuclear weapons if Mr Putin perceived an “existential threat” to Russia.

Fierce fighting was continuing today in the Donbas region in the east of Ukraine, where Russia has switched its attention after failining in its attempts to seize Kyiv.

Defence intelligence agency director Scott Berrier told the hearing that the Russians and the Ukrainians were “at a bit of a stalemate”.