Finland, Sweden joining NATO a mistake that would stoke military tension, warns Russia

"They should have no illusions that we will simply put up with it - and nor should Brussels, Washington and other NATO capitals," Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov was quoted as saying by Reuters.

New Delhi: Russia said on Monday that the West should have no illusions that Moscow will simply put up with the Nordic expansion of the U.S.-led NATO military alliance to include Sweden and Finland, casting the move as a mistake that would stoke military tension.

Vladimir Putin, Russia`s paramount leader since the last day of 1999, has repeatedly cited the post-Soviet enlargement of the NATO alliance eastwards towards Russia`s borders as a reason for the invasion of Ukraine.

The war, though, has fomented one of the biggest changes to Europe`s security architecture for decades: once unthinkable moves by Sweden and Finland, which shares a 1,300 km (800 mile) border with Russia, to join the military alliance.

"They should have no illusions that we will simply put up with it - and nor should Brussels, Washington and other NATO capitals," Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov was quoted as saying by the state RIA news agency.

Ryabkov, who led talks with the United States on a doomed Russian proposal to halt NATO`s eastward expansion, said the decisions by Helsinki and Stockholm to join the alliance were a mistake.