Putin threatens Finland with "problems now"
Finland has maintained its military neutrality for decades. But after the Russian attack on Ukraine, the country joins NATO. A move that apparently infuriates Kremlin leader Putin. "What did they need it for?" he asks on state television.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has threatened the new NATO member and neighboring country Finland with unspecified "problems". "All previous disputes, including territorial ones, were already settled in the 20th century," Putin said in a television interview. "There were no problems before, but now there will be." For now Russia will build up the Leningrad military district around the metropolis of St. Petersburg in the northwest of the country and station military units. "Why did they need that?" he asked the neighboring country.
In the interview, however, Putin did not mention the reason for Finland joining NATO: Helsinki had given up its long-standing neutrality due to the Russian attack on Ukraine and, like Sweden, applied for membership of the Western military alliance to protect itself from Russia. The USA has already recently concluded an agreement with the Swedish government on the use of Swedish military facilities. A similar agreement is about to be signed with Finland: the Finnish government recently published details of a corresponding agreement that will give the US military access to 15 Finnish bases. The agreement is scheduled to be signed in Washington on Monday.
Finland and Russia share a 1340-kilometer land border. Relations between the two countries are very tense. Last Thursday, Finland announced the renewed closure of all border crossings with Russia. Helsinki accuses Moscow of deliberately allowing migrants to travel on to its western neighbor in order to destabilize it.
"Complete nonsense"
Earlier in the interview, Putin had ruled out a possible Russian attack on a NATO state as "utter nonsense". US President Joe Biden uses such warnings to distract attention from mistakes in his Russia policy, Putin told Russian state television on the question of whether Russia would attack a NATO country. Biden himself understands that "Russia has no reasons, no interest - neither geopolitically, economically nor militarily - to fight with NATO countries", Putin said.
However, the Russian leadership had also denied having invasion plans before the attack on Ukraine. "What sense does it make for Russia to attack anyone?" declared Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Russian state television on February 20, 2022. Four days later , Russian troops began their invasion on the orders of Vladimir Putin.
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Despite Finland joining NATO following Russia's attack on Ukraine, which Putin described as unnecessary, Russian President Vladimir Putin has expressed concerns about the move, stating, "Why did they need it?" During a television interview, Putin also mentioned the potential increase of military presence in the Leningrad military district, questioning, "Why did they need that?" towards Finland.
Source: www.ntv.de
