OREANDA-NEWS  NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg addressed Russian President Vladimir Putin at a press conference in Vilnius, where the alliance summit will be held. His words are quoted by CNBC.

Stoltenberg said that the armed conflict in Ukraine turned out to be "counterproductive" for the Russian leader. "[Putin] decided to go to war because he wanted less NATO, but he gets more NATO... Moscow and President Putin do not have the right to veto the expansion of the alliance," he said.

According to Stoltenberg, the Russian president underestimated the military forces of Ukraine and hoped that the conflict would weaken NATO, but instead the alliance accepts new members. This indicates the unity of all the participants of the bloc, the Secretary General concluded.

Earlier it became known that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan agreed to Sweden's admission to NATO. According to CNN Turk, Ankara can approve the country's application to join the alliance by July 21.

The Kremlin later said that Russia's retaliatory measures would be similar to those "planned in the context of Finland's already established accession" to the bloc.