Russia has warned that Finland’s official accession to Nato risks a significant expansion of conflict between Moscow and the west, and that it would be forced to take countermeasures against Helsinki’s new status.
Finland will join the US-led military alliance on Tuesday, bringing it formally inside Nato’s mutual defence pact and reshaping northern Europe’s security environment.
The accession roughly doubles the length of Nato’s direct border with Russia at a time of heightened tension between the two sides, after more than 13 months of full-scale war in Ukraine — a conflict that Russian president Vladimir Putin has sought to blame partially on Nato enlargement.
Finland’s Nato membership is an “aggravation of the situation” and an “encroachment on Russia’s security”, which will force Russia to take countermeasures, said Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesperson.
Peskov did not specify what measures he was referring to but said that Russia had to assess where Nato’s infrastructure would be located. Nato was an “unfriendly, even hostile” organisation, Peskov said, but stressed that Finland’s accession was radically different from Ukraine’s bid to become a member.
Finland’s formal accession on Tuesday will take place alongside a meeting of Nato foreign ministers in Brussels.
Its neighbour Sweden is also in the process of becoming a Nato member. Both countries reversed their generations-old policies of not joining the alliance in the wake of Russia’s invasion in February 2022.
Sergei Shoigu, the Russian defence minister, added during a meeting with leaders of the country’s armed forces that Finland’s move risked a deepening of the conflict.
Nato members were increasing their “anti-Russian policy”, Shoigu said, alongside a rise in military assistance to Ukraine that would lead to an escalation of the war, he added.
Jens Stoltenberg, Nato secretary-general, said Moscow was to blame for Helsinki’s “historic” decision to join the alliance after starting a war that he said threatened all of Europe.
Russia’s military build-up near its border with Finland was part of a long-term pattern, Stoltenberg said, adding that Nato was continually assessing its defence posture against threats and increasing its exercises, including in Nordic countries.
Stoltenberg said that no troops from other Nato allies would be stationed in Finland without Helsinki’s consent. Finland’s defence minister Antti Kaikkonen said on Tuesday that foreign troops would be a topic for future discussions.
“It is a big day for Finland, of course. I’d say it’s a win-win situation; it’s good for Nato also,” Kaikkonen added.
Putin said last month that Russia would station tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, its close ally, which borders Nato members Poland and Lithuania.
Josep Borrell, the EU’s chief diplomat, on Tuesday described that move as Putin’s “newest nuclear gamble”.
“Nuclear weapons moved to Belarus constitutes a new escalation,” Borrell said, “and poses a direct threat to European security”.
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