Russia announced on Monday that it would increase its military presence in the country’s west and northwest in reaction to Finland’s membership in NATO.
Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg stated earlier in the day that Finland will become the alliance’s 31st member on Tuesday.
“We will strengthen our military potential in the western and northwestern direction,” Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko was quoted as saying by state news agency RIA Novosti.
“In the event of the deployment of forces and resources of other NATO members on the territory of Finland, we will take additional steps to reliably ensure Russia’s military security,” he added.
Russia and Finland share a boundary of 1,300 kilometers (800 miles).
In the aftermath of Moscow’s offensive in Ukraine, Finland and Sweden abandoned a decades-long strategy of military non-alignment and applied to join the Western alliance last May.
In March, the Kremlin maintained that Russia poses no danger to the two Nordic countries and has no “dispute” with them. Russia, on the other hand, regards NATO expansion as a “existential” danger to its security and has used Ukraine’s desire to join the alliance to justify its offensive.
