U.S. State Department says defense alliance expansion would promote European stability

WASHINGTON – The United States would not be concerned that an expansion of a defense alliance would do anything other than promote stability in Europe, State Department spokesman Ned Price said on Thursday.

“Without speaking to any countries in particular, we would not be concerned that the expansion of a defensive alliance would do anything other than promote stability on the European continent,” Price told a news briefing.

He was responding to a question of whether the United States would be concerned that Russia could escalate the confrontation over Ukraine if Sweden and Finland join the NATO alliance.

(Reporting by Jonathan Landay, Humeyra Pamuk and Daphne Psaledakis; Editing by Leslie Adler)