the president of Russia Vladimir Putin talks about increasing military units near the Finnish border attracted interest in the media around the world on Sunday.
According to the researcher, the reason may be that Putin dealt with an individual country in the context of NATO as a whole.
– It is perhaps now some kind of novelty or a new dimension in this war against Ukraine, says a senior researcher at the Foreign Policy Institute Jussi Lassila.
Putin warned In an interview with the Rossija 1 television channelthat NATO membership causes problems for Finland.
The Russian president claimed that the Kremlin decided to establish a military district in the northwestern parts of the country in response to Finland joining the military alliance.
– We had no problems [Suomen kanssa]but now they will come because we are establishing the Leningrad Military District and concentrating a certain number of military units there, Putin said.
According to Lassila, Putin’s interview gives no indication that Russia would attack a NATO country in the foreseeable future, since its military forces are largely tied to Ukraine, probably for years to come.
– I would not consider it very realistic that Russia would militarily attack a NATO country.
Putin claimed that Russia would not attack NATO countries
Putin’s announcement about increasing military units near the Finnish border has been reported by, for example, the American CNN, the German Welt and the Swedish Dagens Nyheter, although the changes in the Russian army already told in January.
– This is nothing new, but it has been on display almost a year ago, says Lassila.
Lassila estimates that the Russian plans might not have been known abroad or had been forgotten over the course of months.
In January, Russia announced the strengthening of the army near the Finnish border and plans to transform the current western military district into the military districts of Moscow and Leningrad and to form an army corps in Karelia.
According to Lassila, Russia’s actions are still abstract and there are only plans for them. It seems to him that the establishment of the Leningrad military unit is the much-talked-about concrete answer from Russia to Finland’s joining NATO.
Russia warned in April that it would take countermeasures because of Finland’s NATO membership.
The expert believes that it may be a long time before we see a real increase in troops in the region.
According to Lassila, either the presidential administration or Putin himself saw the need to come forward after Thursday’s four-hour media show. According to the expert, the televised spectacle was an unusually confused entity.
– What he said on Thursday may not have been seen as enough. He wanted to hold some kind of interview, Lassila estimated.
He estimated that the interview was not given because of Finland, but that the Russian leadership wanted to further sharpen the security policy situation.
Is it a response to Russophobia?
American CNN reminded that Finland’s accession to NATO was a hard blow to Putin. In addition, it meant a change in the security environment of Northern Europe, because with Finland’s NATO membership, the military alliance’s border against Russia was extended by approximately 1,300 kilometers.
Lassila agrees, according to whom Putin commented on Finland’s NATO membership in line with expectations.
– The explanation is simply that it is a very stinging strategic loss.
German Welt again, you can see that the Russian president is doing everything he can to prevent the expansion of NATO on Russia’s borders. The attack on Ukraine was also one way to prevent Russia’s neighboring country from joining NATO, writes Welt.
Finland joined the military alliance in April.
In November, Russia started a hybrid operation, during which it has guided asylum seekers to the Finnish border.
According to the German Welt, relations between Finland and Russia have become extremely tense.
Also Swedish Dagens Nyheter writes that tensions on Finland’s eastern border have increased due to Finland’s NATO membership and Russia’s hybrid operation.
Defense expert interviewed by DN Jörgen Elfving believes that Russia is now using all means to “pep Finland”.
According to Elfving, Russia saw Finland’s joining the military alliance as an anti-Russian gesture, a kind of Russophobia.
– Russia has a new kind of opportunity to use Russophobia for political influence with the closing of the borders, says Lassila.
Russia has used Russophobia in its propaganda before. Lassila estimates that many in the political leadership genuinely believe that Russophobia is real.
This is how Putin’s speech was evaluated in Russia
In the Russian media it was emphasized on Sunday that Putin said that Russia was forced to make a decision to concentrate troops near the Finnish border due to the expansion of NATO.
According to Lassila, he noticed a neutral attitude towards the establishment of a military district in the Russian media.
– For example, the news in Rossiskaja Gazeta was surprisingly neutral, and there was no writing at all about the problems facing Finland, says Lassila.
According to Lassila, the same paper repeated the Russian leadership’s propaganda that Finland was now losing its sovereignty to the United States.
Instead, the opposition media Radio Svoboda emphasized that Russia wants to negotiate some kind of agreement with NATO, bringing out Putin’s negative comments about Finland’s NATO membership in the story.
State media Ria emphasized the president who criticized Putin Joe Biden.
Biden warned December at the beginning, that Russia could attack a NATO country if Putin wins the war in Ukraine. Biden’s words were addressed to the senators, as the US president tried to pressure Congress to approve, among other things, the 100 billion euro support package for Ukraine.
Putin said in an interview on Sunday that Biden spoke “nonsense” when he claimed that Russia could attack a NATO country.
You can discuss the topic on 19.12. until 23:00.