Russia says to boost military in NW regions as Finland joins NATO

Russia says it will expand its military capacity in its western and northwestern regions, near the border with Finland, as the Nordic country joins NATO.

Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko told Russia’s state-owned news agency RIA on Monday the beefing up of the military capacity in those regions was in direct response to Finland’s expected accession to NATO on Tuesday.

“We will strengthen our military potential in the western and northwestern direction. In the event that the forces and resources of other NATO members are deployed in Finland, we will take additional steps to reliably ensure Russia’s military security,” Grushko said.

President Vladimir Putin has on several occasions cited the post-Soviet expansion of NATO eastward toward Russia’s borders as a reason for the military operation he declared in Ukraine on February 24, 2022. Key to a list of Russian demands from the West prior to the war was a guarantee that Kiev would never be part of NATO.

Fearing that they might be targeted after the war began, Finland and Sweden applied last year to join the US-led transatlantic military pact. In April 2022, the Kremlin warned it would deploy nuclear weapons in the Baltic Sea region if the two European states join the 30-member military alliance.

The Kremlin also warned last year that the NATO expansion would lead Moscow to strengthen air, land, and naval forces to “balance” military capability in the region.

Separately on Monday, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Finland would become the 31st member of the world’s biggest military alliance on Tuesday, expressing hope that Sweden also can join in coming months.

“This is a historic week. From tomorrow, Finland will be a full member of the alliance,” the former Norwegian prime minister said at a press conference on the eve of a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Brussels.

“We will raise the Finnish flag for the first time here at the NATO headquarters. It will be a good day for Finland’s security, for Nordic security, and for NATO as a whole,” he said.

Following months of negotiations, Turkey, the last NATO member state to have ratified Finland’s membership, fulfilled its pledge to the Nordic country and approved Helsinki’s NATO membership bid.

Elsewhere in his remarks, Stoltenberg said Turkey would hand its official texts to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday, adding that he would then invite Finland to do the same.

Separately, Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto that he would attend the ceremony along with Finland’s President Sauli Niinistö and Defense Minister Antti Kaikkonen.

A flag-raising ceremony to add the Finnish flag to those of the 30 other members will take place at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, on Tuesday afternoon.

All 30 allies signed Finland’s and Sweden’s accession protocols. Turkey and Hungary delayed the process for months but have agreed on Finland. Ankara has sought guarantees and assurances from the two Nordic states, notably on tackling what it calls extremism. Hungary’s demands have never been explicit.

All 30 NATO members must unanimously agree on admitting new members so that they can benefit from the pact’s collective security guarantee.