Politics

Russia will deploy troops, weapons to Finland border, Putin warns

Moscow, Mar 13 (EFE).- Russia will deploy troops and heavy weapons on the border with Finland after it joined Nato along with Sweden, Russian president Vladimir Putin said Wednesday.

Sweden and Finland joined the Atlantic military alliance in the wake of the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

“If we didn’t even have troops, we had withdrawn them all from there, from the Russian-Finnish border, why did they do it? (…) That’s what they decided. But we didn’t have troops there and now we will have them. There were no offensive systems there and now they will appear,” he said during an interview with Channel One Russian television and the official RIA Novosti agency.

Putin dismissed the Nordic countries’ new status as Nato members as a “meaningless step” when it comes to ensuring their national interests, even if it means being protected by a nuclear umbrella.

He recalled that relations between Russia and Finland, which has supported Ukraine since the start of the war more than two years ago, were in the past “ideal”, as there were no disputes between them, including territorial ones.

“And I think they benefited more from being neutral, as it is something that gives them certain advantages, at least as a negotiating platform to reduce tensions in Europe itself,” he said.

Since Finland and Sweden announced their intention to join the alliance, Moscow has warned that it will strengthen its military presence on its northwestern flank, especially the region surrounding the country’s second city, St. Petersburg, which is only about 300 kilometers from the Finnish capital, Helsinki.

“There were no problems. Now there will be. We will create the Leningrad (northwestern) military district and concentrate certain military units there. What did they need it for? It’s just nonsense,” Putin said in December.

Experts believe Finland’s accession to the Atlantic Alliance is among Putin’s biggest miscalculations in launching his military campaign in Ukraine, as Russia and Finland share a 1,300-kilometer border.

PREPARED FOR NUCLEAR WAR

In the interview, Putin assured that Russia is prepared in case the West decides to unleash a nuclear war, although he said that option was currently unlikely.

“They develop all their components. So are we. But this does not mean that, in my view, they are ready to unleash a nuclear war tomorrow. But if they want to, what to do? We are ready,” he asserted.

Putin insisted that Russia is ready “from the military-technical point of view” and that such weaponry “is permanently in combat readiness.”

“Weapons exist to be used. We are ready to use weapons, any weapons (…) if it is about the existence of the Russian state, about damage to our sovereignty and independence,” he noted. EFE

mos/ks

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