The Kremlin vowed on Tuesday to take “countermeasures” after Finland joins NATO, calling the Western alliance’s enlargement a “security attack” on Russia.
“It is a further aggravation of the situation. The enlargement of NATO is an attack on our security and on Russian national interests,” Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
“It forces us to take countermeasures,” he continued. “We will follow closely what is happening in Finland, […] how it threatens us. Measures will be taken accordingly. Our army will report back in due course,” Peskov added.
Russian diplomacy specified that Moscow’s “countermeasures” would depend in particular on the deployment or not of NATO armaments, and of their type, on Finnish territory.
“Concrete measures regarding the defense of Russia’s northwestern borders will depend on the concrete conditions of integration [de la Finlande] to the Atlantic Alliance, in particular the deployment on its territory of NATO military infrastructure and armament systems capable of strikes”, she underlined in a press release.
After three decades of military non-alignment, Finland joined NATO on Tuesday, a strategic turning point caused by Moscow’s offensive against Ukraine.
Finland’s membership allows NATO to double the length of the border shared by its members with Russia, which Moscow takes a very dim view of.
Russian diplomacy considered that by joining NATO, Finland had renounced “its identity” and “all independence”.
“Finland has become one of these small member states of the Alliance, those who decide nothing, losing its voice apart in international affairs,” she denounced.
With the doubling of “the line of direct contact between NATO and Russia’s borders, the situation in Northern Europe, once one of the most stable regions in the world, has changed dramatically”, according to the same source.
The Atlantic Alliance, led by the United States, is considered by Moscow as one of the main threats to its security. kyiv’s stated desire to join NATO was also one of the reasons given by Russia to justify its military offensive against Ukraine.
Finland’s decision, after decades of neutrality, therefore represents a setback for Moscow.
“Finland never became anti-Russian and we had no argument” with her, Mr. Peskov lamented. Its membership in NATO “can only affect the nature of our relations”, because the Alliance “is an unfriendly organization, hostile in more ways than one towards Russia”, he added.