Russian President Vladimir Putin, in an interview on Sunday (Dec 17), has warned of problems with neighbouring country Finland after it joined NATO earlier this year.
Putin said that Moscow, in response, will create a new military district in the northwest part of Russia.
“They (the West) dragged Finland into NATO. Did we have any disputes with them? All disputes, including territorial ones in the mid-20th century, have long been solved,” Putin told a state TV reporter.
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“There were no problems there, now there will be, because we will create the Leningrad military district and concentrate a certain amount of military units there.”
Finland, which shares a 1,340-kilometre (830-mile) border with Russia, joined NATO in April this year amid Moscow’s Ukraine offensive.
Putin’s remarks come after Finland, again this week, shut its border with Russia, condemning it for staging a migrant crisis on its border.
Moscow has forewarned of counter-measures in retaliation to Helsinki’s NATO accession.
Putin also said that Russia had no reason to be at war with NATO countries after United States President Joe Biden said that Moscow “won’t stop” in Ukraine if it is successful there.
“It is rhetoric to justify false policy on Russia,” Putin said.
He said Moscow had “no interest, either in geopolitical, economic or military terms, to fight with NATO countries.”
The Kremlin’s Ukraine campaign has rekindled fears of Russian aggression in the eastern side of NATO.
Finland again shut Russian border
Finland’s interior minister on Thursday (Dec 14) announced that the country would again shut its border with Russia after a spike in migrant crossings that Helsinki dubbed as Moscow’s hybrid attack.
Two border crossing points in southeastern Finland were opened overnight from Wednesday to Thursday.
The Finnish border guard said Thursday that at least 40 people had crossed into Finland to seek asylum since the border was opened.
“The number of migrants increased rapidly and the phenomenon accelerated faster than expected,” Rantanen said.
Arthur Parfenchikov, the governor of Karelia, the Russian region bordering Finland, said Thursday on X, that “there are groups of migrants among the people wishing to cross the border.”
“The others are allowed to pass through the checkpoint in small groups,” he added.
(With inputs from agencies)
