As of: March 13, 2024, 11:34 a.m
By: Christiane Kühl
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Putin has escalated tensions on the shared border since Finland joined NATO.
Now he wants to station troops and weapons there.
New member Sweden also feels the harsher tone from Moscow.
Russian President Vladimir Putin had warned Finland that the country, which had been neutral for decades, would have consequences if it joined NATO.
And he's serious.
Since Finland became a member of the alliance in April 2023, tensions have been rising along the 1,300 kilometer long border between the two countries.
On Tuesday, Putin announced in an interview with state media that he would station soldiers and military equipment at the border in response to Finland's NATO membership - and peppered this announcement with direct threats.
“We didn’t have troops there, now they will be there,” Putin told the
RIA
news agency and state broadcaster
Rossiya-1
.
“There were no demolition systems there, now they are being moved there.”
At the time, Putin condemned Finland's entry into the military alliance as an "attack on Russia's security."
Putin now threatened that joining NATO would be “a meaningless step” for Finland with a view to “protecting its national interests” – just like it was for Sweden.
In doing so, he suggests that membership will not deter Russia from attacking in case of doubt.
In the interview he also brought up the use of nuclear weapons against the West.
Putin threatens Finland and Sweden
Back in December, Putin used an interview with
Rossiya-1
to ominously announce “problems” for Finland.
The West had “dragged Finland into NATO,” he complained at the time.
“Why, did we have any disputes with Finland?
All disputes, including territorial ones, that existed in the middle of the 20th century have long since been resolved.” The Soviet Union attacked Finland during the Second World War;
In the so-called Winter War, Finland prevented the entire country from being conquered, but had to cede areas.
During the Cold War, Finland had to remain neutral in order to secure its existence.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine changed the calculus for Finland.
NATO membership now seemed safer than neutrality.
Sweden would also not have applied for membership without the war in Ukraine.
By invading Ukraine, Putin ultimately achieved the opposite of what he wanted, namely an end to NATO expansion.
Finland's accession has brought the alliance a good deal closer to Russia's power centers St. Petersburg and Moscow.
The Baltic Sea has also practically become the NATO Sea.
Apart from Russia itself, there are now only NATO members on its shores, who can now work together militarily and logistically much better than before.
Sweden and Finland are already taking part in NATO exercises in the region together.
Sweden only officially became a member at the beginning of March after a tough struggle for approval from Turkey and Hungary.
Russian gray zone tactics
Putin's response to this is threats, especially against Finland and the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, which also directly border Russia.
In its current annual report, the Estonian foreign intelligence service assumes that Russia will significantly increase the number of troops along NATO's eastern border in the next few years.
They want to station soldiers and weapons on the Finnish border: Russian President Putin and his Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.
© picture alliance/dpa/Pool Sputnik Kremlin/AP |
Alexander Kazakov
It is the infamous Russian “gray zone tactics” that Putin is using to gradually increase the pressure.
So he initially had a new “Leningrad Military District” founded in the border area with Finland in the fall of 2023 with a high level of publicity.
At the same time, according to information from Helsinki, Putin began bringing thousands of refugees to the border in order to make the government there nervous.
Finland then closed its border with Russia in November.
In January, Russia abolished a 2012 border agreement.
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Finland's conservative government defies the hybrid threat.
The border remains closed.
The country is also massively arming itself and gradually integrating itself into the NATO systems.
Helsinki is also working on tightening asylum laws.
They want to be able to send refugees back to Russia even if they ask for asylum.
This is quite controversial in the EU.
The accusation is that Finland is violating current EU asylum law.
Finland warns Sweden about threats from Putin
Finnish intelligence warned Sweden of an increase in verbal threats from Moscow in revenge for its accession.
This is already happening.
When it became clear after the Hungarian parliament's approval that Sweden would join NATO, Putin threatened that Russia would take military-technical and other countermeasures.
He didn't give any details.
“Sweden's accession to NATO goes hand in hand with the constant fomenting of anti-Russian hysteria in the country,” Foreign Office spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said, according to Reuters.
The main source of this sentiment lies abroad “It is not the Swedes themselves who make this decision;
“This decision was made for the Swedes,” said Zakharova about the accession.
It is the same narrative as Finland, which was allegedly dragged into NATO.
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson was unimpressed: The accession of Sweden and Finland made it clear that Putin had failed in his goal of determining the decisions of other countries.
Immediately after joining NATO, he emphasized in Washington: “Sweden is a safer country today than it was yesterday.” The Finns are likely to see it similarly.