In the media controlled by the Russian state, propagandists considered Finland’s decision a mistake and predicted countermeasures.
12:53•Updated 12:54
Finland’s NATO membership became one of the main news in Russia on Tuesday. In the state-controlled media, journalists and propagandists have commented on the membership acidly and with colorful turns of phrase.
A common theme in the comments is that Finland’s decision was a mistake.
For example, the news agency Ria quotes the senator Grigori Karasiniaaccording to which the decision only creates nervousness and militarism in the minds of Finns.
– It is unlikely that anyone in Finland is satisfied, Karasin writes according to Ria on his Telegram channel.
In reality, 80 percent of Finns supported NATO Helsingin Sanomat (you switch to another service) in an opinion poll published in February.
Military researcher Yevgeni Buzhinski on the other hand, he assessed in the Argumenti i fakti magazine that Finland would lose its neutrality and that Finnish and Russian trade would suffer.
Bužinski does not mention that Finland gave up its neutrality when it joined the EU and that trade collapsed a year ago after Russia attacked Ukraine.
“U.S. Control”
Many commentators also claim that Finland will now be controlled by the United States.
Duma representative and colonel general Andrei Kartapolov claimed on television’s 60 Minutes propaganda program on Tuesday that the United States is planning to use Finns in an attack against Russia because it does not want to sacrifice its own troops.
He equated the Finns with the indigenous peoples of America, who were indoctrinated by the Europeans to attack their enemies of James Fenimore Cooper in the book The Last of the Mohicans.
– They need new Indians. Finns are such Indians, says Kartapolov.
Intimidation with countermeasures
Commentators consider it clear that Finland will receive NATO troops and infrastructure. For example, the host of the 60 minutes program Olga Skabeyeva claims that Finland will get nuclear weapons sooner or later.
The Russian administration has threatened countermeasures if NATO infrastructure comes to Finland. It has not given details, but the commentators foresee versatile means.
A military expert in the Russian government newspaper Rossiskaja Gazeta Alexei Leonkov writes that he expects that Russia will soon announce that it has aimed its nuclear weapons at Finland.
Editor of MilitaryRussia Dmitry Kornev writes that Russia could bring Iskander and Kinzal missiles to Finland, establish new forces and strengthen the northern fleet.
The West has doubted Russia’s ability to strengthen its forces, when it is already in difficulties in the war in Ukraine.
Reporter in the 60 Minutes program Mikhail Khodaryonok speculates that Russia could place nuclear mines on Finland’s border.
Hodarjonok refers to surface-launched tactical nuclear weapons developed by the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War. It is unclear to what extent there are weapons in modern Russia.