Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin's announcement that Russia cannot dictate her country's foreign policy prompted a new threat from Russia, which has attempted to justify its invasion of Ukraine with complaints about the Trans-Atlantic Alliance. .
"Finland joining NATO will have serious military and political implications," Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Friday.
Finland maintained formal neutrality throughout the Cold War as part of an agreement signed with the Soviet Union after stopping Red Army forces in the bloody Winter War, but the northern European nation sided with NATO after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Started a "collaboration" program. Federation. Marin has said it is "very unlikely" for Finland to take full membership in the coalition, but stressed this week that Russia has no say in the matter.
"There are currently no intense discussions going on about the possibility of Finland applying to NATO," Marin told reporters. "We will take our decisions from our national starting points. ... Russia's actions have no effect on these decisions."
Zakharova countered that Finland's separation from the alliance is "an important factor in ensuring security" on the continent.
“We see the course taken by the Finnish leadership to continue the policy of military non-alignment in the European continent in general as an important factor in ensuring security in Northern Europe,” she said, per state media, Negotiations between the Trans-Atlantic Security Bloc and the Nordic State before complaining about "practical".
Western officials interpreted his warning as another sign that Russian President Vladimir Putin's aggression may not stop with Ukraine.
"No illusions are possible about Putin's desire to dominate Europe well beyond the former borders of the Soviet Union," Germany's Reinhard Butikofer, a senior member of the European Parliament, wrote on Twitter.
State Department spokesman Ned Price offered a similar explanation.
"Every country should be free to set its own policies - its domestic policy, its foreign policies, its partnerships, its alliances, its union, its aspirations," Price told reporters during Friday's press briefing. "This is what Putin is trying to trample on in Ukraine. This is what - if we are to, at least, hear this blast - we can believe he wants to trample beyond Ukraine."
Price emphasized that he has "no doubt" that Putin understands that an attack on a NATO ally would provoke the United States to "fight for every inch of NATO territory." NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg announced on Friday that the security bloc is deploying "a NATO response force for the first time in a collective defense context" after Central and Eastern European allies expressed their alarm that Russia's invasion of Ukraine posed a threat to them. is extended. Territories.
About 40 US troops have already arrived in Latvia, where they were received by Latvian Defense Minister Artis Pabriks.
“We are ready to do whatever is necessary to defend ourselves. We are not afraid to die for him. But we can get overwhelmed, so we welcome you here,” Pabrix told the American crew. “We are not afraid that someone might attack us, but the sign that American troops are with us, and that other allies from Canadians to Europeans are with us, is a good sign for Putin – not to mess with us. Do it."
Finland does not have that layer of security, but Helsinki officials expressed "confidence" in their military.
"The Finnish Defense Forces are well prepared to fulfill their respective responsibilities," Defense Minister Antti Kaikonen said. "The Finns can have confidence in our defense forces."