Russia on Thursday threatened Finland with a ‘military-technical’ response after its leaders announced their desire to join NATO ‘without delay’ under the influence of the war in Ukraine, amid rising tensions elsewhere in Europe around gas deliveries, disrupted for a second consecutive day.
The President and Prime Minister of Finland, Sauli Niinistö and Sanna Marin, said they were in favor of joining NATO “without delay” on Thursday, a prelude to a formal candidacy on Sunday from this Nordic country, which shares 1,300 km of border with Russia and was for a long time forced into a forced neutrality with regard to Moscow.
If membership materializes, Russia will be “obligated to take reciprocal military-technical and other measures to end threats to its national security”, the Russian Foreign Ministry replied in a statement, calling on Helsinki to “realize their responsibilities”.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov had previously estimated that Moscow’s response would depend on “the advance of military infrastructure” towards Russia’s borders.
On the Western side, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, then German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron assured Finland of their support, as did key elected officials from the US Senate. If she applies, “she will be warmly welcomed into NATO and the membership process will go smoothly and quickly,” Stoltenberg said.
Worried about Moscow’s reaction to their likely requests for NATO membership, Helsinki and Stockholm, which is also considering it, signed mutual protection declarations with the United Kingdom on Wednesday.
Energy tensions
Tension was also mounting around energy issues.
Germany, one of the main European customers of Russian gas, saw its deliveries via Ukraine drop by almost 40% in two days, according to operators. German Energy Minister Robert Habeck has also accused Russia of using energy “as a weapon”.
This issue should be on the menu of Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kouleba’s visit to Germany, where he will take part in a meeting with his G7 counterparts on Friday and Saturday. “Europe must cut off energy oxygen” to Russia and “get rid of its dependence on Russian gas”, he said on Thursday.
The 27 EU countries have been trying to reduce their dependence on Russian hydrocarbons since the start of the conflict, but have so far failed to agree on a gradual embargo on Russian oil.
Earlier Thursday, Mr. Kouleba had again pleaded for his country’s accession to the EU. “We often hear that Ukraine belongs to the European family, now it is important to [lui] reserve this spot,” he told German television.
kyiv submitted an application for EU membership on February 28, but some of the 27 member countries are skeptical, including on granting mere candidate status, a matter on which a decision is expected in June.
Alongside the G7, the foreign ministers of NATO member countries will also meet on Friday and Saturday to discuss their military support for Ukraine – and possibly also for Moldova.
US intelligence chief Avril Haines said on Tuesday that Vladimir Putin did not intend to limit himself to Donbass and southern Ukraine, and that he wanted to extend his influence to the south-west until Transdniestria, pro-Russian separatist region of Moldova.
Fighting in the Donbass and returns to kyiv
On the ground, fighting continues in the east and south of the country. The Russian army is continuing its offensive in the Donbass, where it is progressing only slowly, and is trying in particular to take “total control” of the localities of Roubijné and Severodonetsk, according to the Ukrainian presidency.
Residents of the region who refused to evacuate are often sympathetic to Moscow. “They give the Russians our coordinates, that’s for sure,” a soldier, who uses the nom de guerre “Zastava”, told AFP, met on the front line in Novomykolaivka.
Russian airstrikes also killed at least three people and injured 12 overnight from Wednesday to Thursday near Cherniguiv in northeastern Ukraine, local officials said.
At kyiv station, the return of Ukrainians who have gone abroad has multiplied since May 9, when Ukraine feared a military action by Russia for the anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany.
When a train from Poland enters the station, cries of joy resound. “We get used to war, to the threat. The fears we had two months ago are different from those of today, ”explains Dana Pervalska, 27, welcoming her cousin on the quay.