Russia will take adequate measures to counter NATO’s increasingly “aggressive rhetoric,” President Vladimir Putin told MPs at the closing session of the State Duma. He called to create an international security system open to all countries.

It’s necessary to create a collective security system void of “bloc-like thinking” and open to all countries, Putin said on Wednesday in Russia’s parliament.

“Russia is ready to discuss this extremely important issue,” he said, adding that such proposals have been so far left unanswered by Western countries.

“But again, as it was at the beginning of WWII, we don’t see any positive response,” he continued. “On the contrary, NATO ups its aggressive rhetoric and aggressive actions near our borders.”

“In this environment, we must pay special attention to strengthening our country’s defense capabilities,” he concluded.

Terrorism has become the major threat to international security, Putin said, comparing it to the rise of Nazism before WWII. Facing this challenge, the international community should work together rather than remain separated and divided, he said.

“What kind of lessons are needed to get rid of old-fashioned ideological discord and geopolitical games and unite in the fight against international terrorism? This common threat is rising right in front of us,” Putin said.

NATO’s former deputy military chief in Europe says his book, a fictional story which describes a nuclear war with Russia over the Baltic nations taking place in 2017, is based on an “entirely plausible” scenario.

General Sir Richard Shirreff, from Britain, served at the second-highest NATO military office in Europe between 2011 and 2014. He says his experience acquired in the alliance of war-gaming future conflicts helped him model the narrative for the book.

According to his scenario, starting next year Russia would first occupy Ukraine to secure a land route to Crimea and then invade the three Baltic nations, all of which are members of NATO. The move, Shirreff argued, would be driven by the perception of NATO’s weakness and Russia’s opposition to what it sees as the alliance’s attempts to encircle it.

The supposed invasion of Ukraine in 2014 was Russia’s use of its troops, which were legally deployed in Crimea under a treaty with Ukraine, to prevent hostilities after an armed coup in Kiev. The Crimean people, who overwhelmingly opposed the new Ukrainian government and its nationalistic leanings, voted in a referendum to part ways with Ukraine and rejoin Russia.

If Russia used military force against any NATO members, the entire alliance would be obliged to declare war on Russia. The US is the most powerful member of NATO and has the world’s biggest military force. According to Shirreff, Russia would use its nuclear arsenal to counter NATO’s response.

Sweden has not been at war since 1814, when it crushed Norway and forced it to enter a union together. It maintained neutrality during the two world wars of the 20th century and remained unaligned during the Cold War, relying on a system of so-called “total defense” to discourage a possible Soviet invasion.

Since the 1990s the Nordic country has been downsizing its military and in 2010 it abolished peacetime conscription in favor of a volunteer-only force.

In 2014, the trend was reversed as Russia’s stand-off with the US over the Ukrainian crisis sparked concerns about security in Europe. In 2014 Swedish Navy conducted a costly search for an alleged Russian submarine amid a media hysterics, which ended with no such boats found. The military eventually acknowledged that the photo of the ‘Russian sub’ that triggered the hunt was actually of a workboat.

The failure didn’t stop the Swedish military from requesting a US$696 million boost to its budget between 2016 and 2020 to counter the perceived threat of spying Russian submarines.

In a few years Sweden may be engaged in a war with a “qualified opponent” after two centuries of peace, a senior Swedish commander has told soldiers in an internal brochure.

The alarming message was reportedly sent by Major General Anders Brännström, the Army chief, in a brochure distributed among the participants of a major annual event that is to open in Boden next week. At the gathering senior military and government officials, scholars and other major players are to discuss the future development of the Swedish military.

“The global situation we are experiencing and which is also made clear by the strategic decision leads to the conclusion that we could be at war within a few years. For us in the army we have to, with all force we can muster, implement the political decisions,” Brännström wrote in the brochure, which was leaked by the Expressen tabloid Wednesday.

Sweden also indicated that it wants to develop closer ties with NATO or even become a member of the alliance, which Moscow sees a threat to its national security.

The possibility of a Russian invasion touted by Brännström remains disputed in the Swedish military. His boss, Supreme Commander Micael Bydén, stated that there was no military threat to Sweden.

“We should be aware that we are continuously being exposed to intelligence gathering and campaigns. We also know that areas in our region, the Baltic and increasingly the Arctic, constitute areas of friction between Russia and the West,” he told a military conference in Sälen earlier this month.

RT news