Russia warns Finland's membership will not strengthen NATO
Russia warned that Finland's entry as a full member of NATO will not strengthen the allied bloc's security, while assuring that those who think that Moscow will not react to its accession are "deeply mistaken".
"Everything will be calibrated in accordance with the changing situation, its security will not be strengthened, the security of the Atlantic Alliance in general will not be strengthened," Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Riabkov told Russian state television.
Riabkov expressed his incomprehension with neighbouring Finland's decision, which will double the border between Russia and NATO member states, and accused its neighbours of falling prey to "Russophobia" and of being incapable of putting their interests before those of the "collective West".
Indeed, he said that their security - he also alluded to Sweden, which has not yet joined - "will be weakened" after accession, as Moscow will be forced to take measures, which it will announce "in due course". "Any threat in our direction will be rejected," he stressed.
The diplomat stressed that Russia has "the military resources" and "the political will" to defend its sovereignty and reject any threat to its territorial integrity.
In this respect, he stressed that by suspending the implementation of the latest disarmament treaty with the United States, START III or New START, Moscow has received "additional possibilities" to guarantee its own security.
He recalled that the doctrine of "nuclear deterrence" is still in force and alluded to the recent announcement of an agreement to deploy Russian tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus.
"Our adversaries must realistically accept what is happening around them. Don't bet on escalation, don't provoke us, because things can end with such turns...," he said.
In describing relations with the US, he used the word "collapse" and said that Russia would not allow the West to deal it a "strategic defeat".
Earlier, Russia's defence minister, Sergey Shoigu, said that increased allied activity on Russia's borders, arms supplies to Ukraine and Finnish membership of NATO would lead to "an escalation of the conflict".
In May 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin assured that Finnish and Swedish NATO membership would not pose "a direct threat" to his country's security, unless it included the deployment of weapons on their territories.
Ukrainian President Volodymir Zelenski today congratulated Finland on its accession to NATO, and expressed confidence that Ukraine will make progress on its aspirations to join the Alliance at the Vilnius summit.
"My sincere congratulations to Finland and President Sauli Niinistö on joining NATO on the 74th anniversary of its founding," Zelenski wrote on social media.
The Ukrainian president added that "NATO has become the only guarantee of effective security in the region in the face of Russian aggression".
"We hope that the NATO summit in Vilnius will bring Ukraine closer to its Euro-Atlantic goal," Zelenski remarked, referring to next July's summit in the Lithuanian capital.