A Russian ambassador has issued a chilling threat to other EU neighbours considering joining NATO as well as other countries already a member of the alliance.
Vladimir Putin ’s insistence Ukraine be stopped from joining the group of 28 European countries and two from North America has been given as one of the reasons for his brutal invasion.
Despite his country being decimated by Russian missiles, President Volodymyr Zelensky has been told the former USSR state will not be joining any time soon.
Neither will several other European countries if Russia has anything to do with it, it seems.
Igor Kalabukhov, the Russian ambassador to Bosnia and Herzegovina, said on national TV Moscow has “plans” for Nato.
He added: “I have already said… let me assume, for example, Bosnia has become a member of NATO and Brussels decides to put nuclear missiles aimed at Moscow there.
“We will assess the strategic situation and that is why I think that the way out must be the European system, not NATO.
“If Bosnia and Herzegovina decide to be a member of any association, it is an internal affair. But another thing is our reaction.
"With the example of Ukraine, we showed what we expect. If there is a threat, we will react."
When asked by a reporter about other neighbouring nations, he answered: "How do you know we have no plans against Croatia, Hungary, Poland?
“We have plans against NATO. We are assessing the geostrategic situation, looking at where the threats are coming from and reacting.”
Since the invasion of Ukraine began on February 24, western countries have been unwilling to send troops into Ukraine for fear of it leading to a larger conflict.
Putin has implied that Nato boots on the ground in Nato would lead him to launch a nuclear attack.
President Zelensky has asked Nato to impose a no-fly zone over his country which has been rejected as the move would mean Nato forces could be forced to shoot down Russian planes, potentially leading to a Third World War.
Nato was formed in 1949, four years after the end of the Second World War.
Its 12 founding members were Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, the United Kingdom and the United States.
In response Russia created its own group of eastern European communist countries in 1955, known as the Warsaw Pact.
Since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 several former Warsaw Pact countries such as Hungary and Poland switched sides.
The last country to join Nato was North Macedonia in 2020.
