In response to Finland’s accession into the U.S.-led NATO military alliance, which has doubled the land border between NATO countries and Russia to 2,600 kilometers, Russia says it will take measures to expand its military presence in the west and northwest of the country.
“We will strengthen our military capabilities in the west and north-west,” Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko said, Russia’s state-backed news agency RIA reported. Grushko added,
In the event of the stationing of armed forces and weapons of other NATO members on the territory of Finland, we will take additional steps to reliably ensure Russia’s military security.
Russia and Finland share a border that is around 1,300 kilometers long.
Just 11 months after applying for NATO accession, Finland became the military alliance’s 31st member on Tuesday, April 4th. Shortly after Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto handed the accession document to U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, who officially declared Finland a member, the Finnish flag was raised at NATO’s Brussels headquarters.
Finland’s accession into NATO brings an end to seven decades of neutrality and military non-alignment.
Following Tuesday’s accession ceremony, Russia’s Foreign Ministry claimed that NATO’s expansion amounted to a dangerous historic mistake that would increase the risk of conflict escalating in the region, dilute its own influence on the global stage, and damage its relations with Moscow.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu told the Russian military’s top brass that Finland’s accession has created the risk of a “significant expansion of conflict,” but added that it would have no effect on the outcome of Russia’s so-called ‘special military operation.’
NATO’s further expansion is an “encroachment on our security and on Russia’s national interests,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
