Former Defense Minister and current chairman of Sweden's parliamentary defense committee Peter Hultqvist suggested creating a joint northern army amid tensions with Russia.

Hultqvist told Dagens Nyheter that this would require Finland, Sweden and Norway to take collective responsibility for protecting each other's borders. According to him, even after the fighting in Ukraine stops, tensions with Russia will not go anywhere.

Russia will remain a problem for the whole of Europe and the Western world for a long time to come... A very important task has become the organization - rare management of the armies of Finland, Sweden and Norway in the Scandinavian Peninsula so that in practice they act as one army, the politician said in an interview with the publication.

In particular, he proposes to send Swedish military to the border of Finland with Russia.

Finland and Sweden, against the backdrop of Russia's special military operation in Ukraine, submitted applications to the NATO secretary general for membership in the alliance on May 18. Already 28 countries out of 30, except Turkey and Hungary, have taken a positive decision to admit the Nordic countries to NATO.