Putin Envoy Warns Finland Against Joining NATO

[Ryan Ruck]

I hadn't heard this news when this was originally published.

Putin Envoy Warns Finland Against Joining NATO

June 9, 2014

“Anti-Semitism started World War II, Russophobia could start the third. Finland is one of the most russiphobian countries in Europe, together with Sweden and the Baltic states,” says Russian President Vladimir Putin’s personal envoy Sergei Markov, interviewed by Hufudstadsbladet this weekend.

The interview with Markov is made after Finland´s President Sauli Niinistö last week said a referendum would be required to change the country´s constitutionally neutral status before a possible NATO membership could be applied.

Finland is today, together with Sweden, members of NATO’s affiliate program known as the Partnership for Peace.

“Russia recommends Finland not to join NATO. That military alliance has lost its aim and goal and is therefore looking for new tasks. If Finland joins NATO it would weaken the security in Europe, not strengthen it,” says Sergei Markov in the interview.

Markov is closely working with Vladimir Putin on foreign policy affairs issues and serves as co-Chairman of the National Strategic Council of Russia.

His statement that a Finnish NATO membership could start World War III has made headlines across Finnish media this weekend.

Interviewd by YLE, Finland´s President Sauli Niinistö said after a security conference at the presidential summer residence near Turku on Sunday that Finland and Sweden have made a joint proposal on NATO partnership, which the alliance is certainly studying.

“When the NATO partners meet next autumn, the content of how partnership could be extended will probably become clear,” Niinistö said.

On Monday, the Finnish President will receive Russia´s Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, at the same summer residence.

Lavrov´s spokesman, Aleksandr Lukashevich says ahead of the meeting that Russia´s relations with Finland is an example of good neighbourliness, but admit that Finland´s stand on the Ukraine crisis has caused a decline in the intensiveness Russian-Finnish contacts.

“At the same time, in the past three months, a decline in the intensiveness Russian-Finnish contacts has been observed in view of the stand taken by Finland within the framework of the policy being pursued by the European Union with regard to Russia in the context of the events in Ukraine,” Lukashevich said in an interview with Itar-Tass, quoted by Voice of Russia.

Although Ukraine will headline the talks in Turku, Baltic- and Arctic cooperation are two other topics on the agenda when Lavrov meets Erkki Tuomioja later on Monday, reports RIA Novosti. No further details were mentioned.

[Ryan Ruck]

And in related news...

Finland’s Fighter Jets on Alert as Russia Violates Airspace

August 29, 2014

Finland’s government said its fighter jets were ready to intercept foreign aircraft after Russian planes repeatedly violated the northernmost euro member’s airspace.

A Russian Antonov AN 72 transport plane crossed the Finnish border yesterday at about 12:08 p.m. local time near Porvoo on the Gulf of Finland, identified by Finland’s F/A-18 Hornet jet, the government in Helsinki said. Russian state aircraft are also suspected of two other airspace violations on on the south coast since Aug. 23.

“It shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone that they don’t respect borders,” Charly Salonius-Pasternak, senior researcher at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs, said by phone. “At a minimum, the Russian air force is acting carelessly and that they do so is more and more serious, taking into account the general international and European security situation.”

The Finnish government views the incursions as “extremely unfortunate incidents” that must be “taken very seriously,” Defense Minister Carl Haglund told reporters in Helsinki yesterday. “Three airspace violations within a week is a lot and unfortunately they don’t really have a good explanation. What we know is they are done somewhat on purpose. We don’t know what that purpose is.”

Illegal Steps

Finland, which has the European Union’s longest border with Russia, has condemned its eastern neighbor’s incursion into Ukraine, calling the annexation of Crimea and subsequent displays of military aggression illegal. The comments underscore how deeply Europe’s relationship with President Vladimir Putin has soured, even for nations with close economic ties like Finland.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko called an emergency security meeting yesterday to stop what he called a “de facto” Russian incursion after pro-Russian insurgents gained ground in intensified fighting, taking several towns outside their strongholds of Donetsk and Luhansk.

Finnish President Sauli Niinistoe this week denounced the violation of Ukraine’s territorial sovereignty. Prime Minister Alexander Stubb, speaking at the same event, said Russia has “done wrong.”

Finland and Sweden will sign an agreement with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization making it easier for the bloc to put its troops on their soil, the two governments said this week. Closer ties have been under way since last year as part of a collaboration first envisioned in 2002. The countries will be free to decide the extent of their NATO cooperation on a case-by-case basis.

Russian Timing

“Finland’s aim to reach this deal isn’t going to be a surprise to Russia,” Salonius-Pasternak said. “The timing might have been somewhat unexpected. On the grand scale, it’s hard to see this” airspace violation “as a reaction” to the pact, “though it cannot be excluded.”

Sweden’s government, with the backing of the opposition Social Democrats, approved the purchase of 60 Gripen fighter jets from Saab, broadcaster SVT said today. While the order has been planned since at least 2012, Defense Minister Karin Enstroem said that “developments in the world and Russia’s actions in Ukraine” underlined the importance of buying next generation aircraft, SVT said.

Two Wars

Russian aircraft also violated Finnish airspace twice in May. Finland, which fought two wars against the Soviet Union during World War II, has published all airspace violations since 2005, after Russia breached the border 11 times in a short period of time without owning up. About 30 airspace violations have happened since then, and about half have been by Russian aircraft, according to Max Arhippainen, spokesman for the Defense Ministry.

“It’s clear this cannot continue,” Haglund said. “The main thing would be to get a diplomatic message across to Russia that they need to pay attention.”

In all three instances in the past week, the Russian aircraft ignored repeated demands by flight control to leave Finland’s airspace, the Finnish Border Guard said on its website.

According to Salonius-Pasternak at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs, “the flights serve a purpose. They’re not accidental when they happen so often and continuously.”

Finland has worked with NATO since 1994 as a member of the Partnership for Peace program and its military equipment is NATO-compliant. It shied away from the full membership its Baltic neighbors sought amid voter reluctance to join.

Baltic Incursions

Yet even NATO membership doesn’t shield countries from Russian airspace violations. After two incursions yesterday, Latvia’s Defense Forces sent out this tweet today “NATO Baltic Air Policing QRA Typhoon jets on 29 AUG scrambled to intercept RU Armed Forces 2x Tu-22M, 2x Su-27 over the Baltic Sea.”

Estonia has suffered five incursions into its airspace this year, compared with a total of seven over the previous eight years, Arvo Joesalu, a spokesman for Estonia’s defense headquarters, said by e-mail on Aug. 27.

Finland hosts a two-week multinational military exercise, Northern Coasts 2014, starting today. The exercise, which includes NATO and EU member states, has been held since 2007.

“I presume this won’t be the last” airspace violation “because we have the Nordic Coasts training,” Salonius-Pasternak said. “The military threat against Finland hasn’t increased. However, the regional security situation has weakened, it’s less predictable and that also involves Finland.”

[American Patriot]

Warning FINLAND?

Finland isn't, wasn't and probably won't ever been part of Russia. They never have been NATO but they have been close a few times.

Finland participates in nearly all sub-areas of the Partnership for Peace programme, and has provided peacekeeping forces to both the Afghanistan and Kosovo missions. The possibility of Finland's membership in NATO was one of the most important issues debated in relation to the Finnish presidential election of 2006, and continues to be a prominent issue in Finland politics.[78] Finland has made various technical preparations for membership,[79] and in April 2014, announced they would sign a "Memorandum of Understanding" with NATO on Finland's readiness to receive military assistance and to aid NATO in equipment maintenance. Finnish Defense Minister Carl Haglund also emphasized that this memorandum was not a step towards membership.[80]

Just to keep things interesting, Russian planes keep flying into Finnish airspace

Updated by Matthew Yglesias on August 29, 2014, 4:40 p.m. ET @mattyglesias matt@vox.com
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Russian An-72 transport plane found in Finnish airspace FinnishDefense Forces

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This is a photograph of an AN-27 Russian military transport aircraft. Which wouldn't be so extraordinary, except that the air force of Finland says they took the photo while the Russian plane was in Finnish airspace. Even that wouldn't necessarily be so extraordinary, except the Finns say it was "the third event of its kind within a one-week period." And even that you might write off as just one of these things, except that Russia also invaded Ukraine this week so it's kind of hard to see it all as a big coincidence.
With the USSR distracted in 1941, Finland made a strategic blunder and chose to attack the Soviets


It's difficult to guess why exactly Russia is doing this, but it's making Finland nervous and elevating a longstanding disagreement in Finnish politics about the country's relationship to Russia. Finland, you see, is an unusual case — it shares a long border with Russia and is part of the European Union but not NATO, and while many prominent Finnish politicians including the current prime minister want it to join NATO, that's a controversial view and it doesn't have majority support in the parliament.
A tangled history

Russo-Finnish history is complicated by the fact that, for many years, Finland was part of the Russian Empire. When the Russian Empire collapsed in the wake of World War I and the Bolshevik Revolution, Finland emerged as an independent country. Then, in late-1939, the Soviet Union attacked Finland, seeking to readjust the border.
Finland fought surprisingly effectively during the Winter War, inflicting heavy losses on Soviet forces, but ultimately had to make concessions in order to sue for peace. Then in 1941, Nazi Germany attacked the USSR. With the Soviets distracted, Finland made a strategic blunder and chose to attack the Soviets, hoping to recapture its lost territory. This put democratic Finland into a problematic de facto alliance with Nazi Germany, which of course lost the war.
That left Finland as a bit of an orphan of Cold War politics. The country was democratic, capitalist, and armed to the teeth against possible Soviet aggression, but was not a part of the anti-Soviet alliance system. On the contrary, Finnish foreign policy was oriented toward appeasing the USSR in as many ways as possible — all while preserving the country's independence. After the USSR fell in 1991, Finland moved clearly into the Western sphere by joining the European Union and the Eurozone. But it never made it into NATO.
The NATO debate

Finland's prime minister, Alexander Stubb, favors NATO membership. So does Sauli Niinistö, the country's president. Both Stubb and Niinistö are members of the National Coalition Party. The NCP is currently the main right-of-center party in Finland and the largest party in parliament. It is also the main party that opposed Finland's conciliatory attitude toward the Soviet Union during the Cold War days. Given that the NCP is running the show and its leaders favor NATO membership, you might think NATO membership is in the cards.
But Finland, like many European countries, has seen a surge in electoral support for somewhat fringy euroskeptical parties in recent elections. Consequently, the current coalition government is a broad tent that incorporates Social Democrats, Christian Democrats, and a party representing the country's Swedish-speaking minority. Social Democrats firmly oppose NATO membership, and the terms of the coalition agreement bar Stubb from seeking it. Instead, Finland (and its neighbor Sweden) are both signing deals to enhance cooperation with NATO without joining the alliance outright.
Pros and cons

The upside to NATO membership — security against Russian threats — might seem obvious. But opponents within Finland counter that joining an anti-Russian military alliance would anger Moscow without fundamentally altering the balance of power. Finland has proven in the past that it can deter formal invasion.

(MIT Atlas of Economic Complexity)
At the same time, no military alliance is going to alter Finland's extreme dependence on economic ties to Russia. About 9 percent of Finnish exports head for Russian markets, and over 15 percent of Finnish imports — largely key production inputs such as oil — come from Russia. In this view, Finnish foreign policy needs to emphasize good relations with Russia regardless of the military situation, which would make NATO membership counterproductive.
Finland is scheduled to hold a parliamentary election next spring. In theory, that could lead to the formation of a new coalition that might open the door to NATO membership. In practice, with neither the leading opposition party nor the NCP's main coalition partner supporting NATO, it is difficult to envision a majority for NATO membership being assembled. Unless, that is, aggressive Russian behavior prompts a massive change in Finnish opinion — a small but telling example of how Putin's reckless conduct can backfire against Russia's interests.

[Avvakum]

Finland was part of the Russian Czarist Empire for longer than the United States has been a Nation, having been ceded to Russia after Sweden lost her gambit for a northern empire in the early 1700's. Finland was a 'Grand Duchy' with it's own legislature and self-governing in local affairs under the Czars. Her Aristocrats, mainly Swedes, became devoted to the Romanovs-the father of Finland, Marshal Mannerheim, was a fervent Czarist and fought against the Bolsheviks during the Russian Civil War. Finland had no choices between Nationalism and being under the Marxist yoke.

[American Patriot]

Czarist Russia is not Russia.

[Avvakum]

Czarist Russia is not Russia.

Wrong. 'Czarist Russia' is the only Russia that is; Czar Nicholas illegally abdicated in violation of the Basic Law of the Russian State, a Law in force for almost 300 years. Anointed by God to administer the Imperium with Justice and Mercy, and held to account if he failed to do so, Czar Nicholas abdicated; an impossibility in which contradiction he paid for with his life murdered by the Theomachist Bolsheviks. Nothing after 1917 has been 'Russia' per se, although as the Whites in the Russian Civil War showed, Russia still lives and struggles against the godless yoke from time to time. Russia is even called to awaken from her chains by her own enemies, as when the Nazis were at the gates of Moscow and Stalin needed patriotic and God-fearing Russians to save their asses-and his own-from Hitlerite conquest.

The oligarchic, mafioso, Neo-Soviet 'Russian Federation' of today isn't the real authentic Russia. Czarist Russia is what slumbers beneath the ruins, occasionally given lip-service to by the hypocrites of church and state within the 'Russian Federation', that will one day awaken to life once more.

Attack Putin, the Chekists and the Bolshvik thieves, rapists, and murderers of Russia who still loot and pollute her today, the Eurasianist scum who would fill her with Moslems and even ally with Islam around the world, but not Russia herself for being a Great Power among the nations in her own right, when and after her Resurrection Day happens.

[American Patriot]

Czarist Russia is not Russia.

Apparently you MISSED the point. Read it again. Then read what you said.

[Avvakum]

Apparently you MISSED the point. Read it again. Then read what you said.

If your point is that what passes for 'Russia' today, Putin's Neo-Soviet/Eurasianist 'Russia', is something that should be opposed, fine. But to say that there isn't a common bond and history there with Russia, Finland, Ukraine, Georgia, etc... Is to not look at history objectively and to be frankly Russophobic, against Russia in whatever form, her existence itself. And believe me, there are people like that out there who would love to see all of that part of the world diminished into dozens of little Balkanized Statelets dependent on some global Hegemon like China.

We in the post-1945 world seem to think that borders aren't going to change, that history good or bad stopped like Francis Fukayama's 'End of History and the Last Man' bullshit would have it. Borders drawn by murderous Bolsheviks and winked at by socialist technocrats in Brussels or Washington DC don't mean a thing to me, and if and when a Czar ever returns to Russia God willing, I as an American will be the first to rejoice, even if that Russia were restored somewhat to her pre-1917 frontiers, not least reason because Czarist Russia was the best friend America ever had.... From Czarina Catherine's refusal to King George's request to send 20,000 troops to the Colonies to put down the Revolution in 1776, to ceding Oregon and Washington to us instead of giving in to British demands, to Czar Alexander's sending of his fleets to the Union in 1863 to prevent Britain and France from carving us up during our Civil War, and selling us Alaska. And we helped them, threatening Japan to negotiate peace with Russia-or else-during the Russo-Japanese war of 1905, and earlier when we helped each other during China's Boxer Rebellion.

My point being? This problem we have with 'Russia' is temporary and unnatural, and really we need to try to work together to rid the world of ISIS and check the growth of China, ours-and Russia's-real enemies.

[American Patriot]

I said: Czarist Russia is not Russia.
You said: Wrong. 'Czarist Russia' is the only Russia that is;

Today's Russia is NOT run by a Czar - a monarch. It's run by a Communist Dictator.

The Bolshevik revolution removed any semblance of a monarchy in 1917. We should have killed the Bolshevik movement in the womb.

Dangerous idealism, killing people (Communists), beheading them (Muslims, French) and book burning, the burning of museums, destruction of history - those idealisms should be destroyed before they can promulgate the further ruin of society.

The belief that somehow the Russians are good people who are helpful and "like us" needs to be destroyed.

The Russians are our enemy, plain and simple. There is nothing that Communism and Capitalism have in common. Obama is trying to make this a Marxist/Socialist Country, a "fundamental change" all in an effort to control the public and this country, its wealth and military.

He can't do all three at once. In fact, he can't even handle the military.

The Russians just dropped a virtual bomb on my home town and no one is doing jack fucking shit about it.

That could have been a nuclear bomb or a MRV that landed on our military installations here.

I have ZERO tolerance for this "Up with Russia" talk.

I don't give a shit about Russia's history at this point in time. They are Communists, run by a KGB operative/colonel turned "President". What a hypocrisy.

Russia will NOT work with us. Don't you read? They are helping Syria... who is killing people right and left... who is now over RUN with ISIS... who Russia is sending weapons to.... It's a pretty big, vicious circle. The Russians will be handing weapons to ISIS shortly (and it's fucking ISIS JOHN F'ING KERRY, NOT ISIL - he just used ISIL again... )

They have NO authority anywhere. But everyone is "scared" of a bunch of rag-headed camel jockeys. It's time to put a stop to Islam and Communism.

[Avvakum]

I don't want to argue, even over semantics, but there are distinctions which I think need to be pointed out. You said;

"Today's Russia is NOT run by a Czar - a monarch. It's run by a Communist Dictator.''

Agreed, the 'final phase' of the Roman Empire, the Empire of the Romanov Czars (Caesars), of Moscow the Third Rome, had fallen in 1917 and so Moscovy is Babylon and Antichrist-the Great Red Beast of Bolshevism-has come. Today the Beast is thought dead, 'Communism died' as all say, right? But we few know that that 'mortal wound' will be healed.

Putin is the face of an Oligarchy that is Bolshevik Gangsterism pure and simple.

"The Bolshevik revolution removed any semblance of a monarchy in 1917. We should have killed the Bolshevik movement in the womb."

The Whites tried to, but were betrayed by a 5th column in the West, which is the trend thru to the Bay of Pigs and to this day. Few know that American troops fought in Russia against the Reds in 1918 on the White side...

"Dangerous idealism, killing people (Communists), beheading them (Muslims, French) and book burning, the burning of museums, destruction of history - those idealisms should be destroyed before they can promulgate the further ruin of society."

Wrong idealisms, and I would agree.

"The belief that somehow the Russians are good people who are helpful and "like us" needs to be destroyed."

There are alot of good Russian people, but you have quite a few 'Sovoks' that had better days (they think) under the Soviet Regime, and they remember the 'Great Patriotic War' and the 'Cult of Soviet Victory' which the present day leadership exploits to stoke paranoia and propagandize against the rest of the world. There is a Nazi under every bed waiting to kill them, and so the leadership uses that fear based nationalism to get them to toe the line.

"The Russians are our enemy, plain and simple."

The Bolsheviks are our enemy, not the Russians. You dishonor the memory of the millions of Russians murdered by the Bolsheviks, and the hundreds of thousands who resisted this evil with all they had, by saying that. Russia is a captive Nation, the First, it would be the same as if the Bolsheviks conquered America in 1917 and ruled it today in or out of disguise. You owe the Russian dead or living anticommunist resistors and victims an apology.


"There is nothing that Communism and Capitalism have in common. Obama is trying to make this a Marxist/Socialist Country, a "fundamental change" all in an effort to control the public and this country, its wealth and military."

And yet, you malign another Nation, Russia, that went through the same thing beginning with Kerensky in 1917, a Nation that couldn't look to history to help avoid the coming Red Flood?

"He can't do all three at once. In fact, he can't even handle the military."

He's the 'Kerensky' of the charade, not the 'Lenin', these things will happen in phases.

"The Russians just dropped a virtual bomb on my home town and no one is doing jack fucking shit about it."

The Neo-Soviet Putin Regime, not Russia.

"That could have been a nuclear bomb or a MRV that landed on our military installations here.

I have ZERO tolerance for this "Up with Russia" talk."

I have zero tolerance for people confusing Bolsheviks with real Russians, deliberately or otherwise, who would use the very real threat of Communism to disguise a hatred for people of another Nation and Culture. You should care very much about a strong and free Russia, because that is going to be the best way to rid the world of this Communist threat. If you understood world history, you would see what's coming and why. I'm not sure you do, for the following reasons;

You claim to be against ISIS, but you then try to attack Assad's government which is fighting them.... What did you think was going to happen by supporting a rebellion against him? Militant Salafist Islam, that's what is going to happen if Assad is overthrown, same as everywhere the secular dictatorships have been overthrown. You claim to be against Barack Obama, but so far i've seen you support his misbegotten foreign policy, only chiding him for not going far enough, when what he's done is make the world safe for Leftists and Moslems. I don't support Assad and think Putin is wrong for doing so (he's doing it for ideological reasons, people don't see that Syria's Baathist party is completely infiltrated with Bolshevism). But the Islamic State is an even greater Devil potentially.

I am at a loss to understand your worldview, if it results in creating the very things you rail against.

I have no doubt that you are an intelligent, honorable, and sincere patriotic American, and if you have served and serve this Nation I salute you, for what that's worth. I have no doubt that you've walked the walk so you have the right to talk the talk, so don't take any of this as personal. It's just that knowing Russia's history, I also know your seeming knee-jerk hatred of Russia (instead of the Bolshevism they're enslaved to) is the very thing that helps keep the chains ever tighter upon them.

Plus, being Russian Orthodox, I know what was lost to the world in 1917, and that makes me curse the real Enemy instead of those under his spell so much.

We don't need to argue; i'll gladly stand with you and kill Communists and Moslems all day long. But actual Slavs, brother Orthodox? Never.

[American Patriot]

The Russians... today's Russians... are the enemy of the United States. Period. There are no Bolsheviks. There are ONLY the Russian People, who are dictated too by Putin and WILL be the enemy on the battle field.

While you're accurate most of the time in your history lessons - you are looking at a big picture of the past, present and future - NONE of which is relevant in the Putin-view of today/now.

As to brother Orthodox people... well, if they pick up a gun, even forced to do so, against us... they will die like the rest of the Russians and Muslims that want us dead.

I HAVE served this country now for over 38 years. I don't have a "knee jerk" hatred of Russia. I hate communism. Russia is the pure embodiment of Communism. I grew up during the Cold War. I fought that Cold War. I still live in that mind set - and there is little I see today to prove that Russia is any different today than it was in the 1950s-1980s.

[Avvakum]

The Russians... today's Russians... are the enemy of the United States. Period. There are no Bolsheviks. There are ONLY the Russian People, who are dictated too by Putin and WILL be the enemy on the battle field.

While you're accurate most of the time in your history lessons - you are looking at a big picture of the past, present and future - NONE of which is relevant in the Putin-view of today/now.

As to brother Orthodox people... well, if they pick up a gun, even forced to do so, against us... they will die like the rest of the Russians and Muslims that want us dead.

I HAVE served this country now for over 38 years. I don't have a "knee jerk" hatred of Russia. I hate communism. Russia is the pure embodiment of Communism. I grew up during the Cold War. I fought that Cold War. I still live in that mind set - and there is little I see today to prove that Russia is any different today than it was in the 1950s-1980s.

JR Nyquist quotes Balthasar Gracian, who once said that; 'Hope is a great falsifier'.....

When I'm wrong i'm wrong, and willing to admit it. Been talking to some Ukrainians and others, who 'schooled' me if you will on what they see historically as Russian despotism and barbarism. The way i've been told, is that Ukraine is the real 'Holy Rus' oppressed by the spiritual and cultural descendents of the Mongol 'Golden Horde'. Putin is the embodiment of that today with his Eurasianism, but in reality Moscovy (which arrogates to herself the term; 'Russia') was from the very beginning a kind of collaborator regime of the Mongol yoke. 'Russia' is a prison of peoples, some who wish to fight and remove the spiritual Mongol barbarian boot from their neck, while other poor Gopniks and Sovoks seem to love Big Brother and welcome the safety and security of their chains... Whether its Czarism, Communism, or Dugin and Putin's Eurasianism today, the effect is the same; Barbarian princes live in regal albeit gaudy and crude splendor while sinister guardians protect the frauds with lies and terror and bribery, and the masses live in poverty and servile ignorance.

Orthodoxy fights for freedom against slavery and tyranny. I have been deluded somewhat to think that an Asiatic Despotism was one of the few things left standing in the way of the total erosion of culture and moral value in the world today. 'Russia' in fact is one of the primary corruptors, as is amply documented, by people you and I both know of. Nobody is as blind as a man who refuses to see, when I was told months, even years, ago.

In short, consider this an apology, I guess something really is working inside of me, that I am changing and not too old and set in my ways to change.

Finland should tell Putin's lackeys to go fuck themselves.

[Ryan Ruck]

Finland Warns Europe Is 'At The Gates Of A New Cold War' In Wake Of Russian Military Activity

November 5, 2014

Finland’s president has reportedly warned that Europe is on the brink of “a new kind of cold war” in the wake of apparent military aggression from Russia.

Sauli Niinisto said the US and EU were failing to take Vladimir Putin’s actions seriously, even after he annexed Crimea and after repeated reports of Russian involvement in the conflict in eastern Ukraine.

Advisers to the Russian President have previously warned that Putin wants to “regain Finland”, and speaking from his official residence in Helsinki Mr Niinisto said his country would be “very decisive” in response.

In recent weeks “provocative” Russian jets have been intercepted in operations involving RAF Typhoons, Finnish Hornets, Swedish surveillance planes as well as US and Canadian jets off Alaska.

Mr Niinisto told the Guardian the combination of Putin’s anti-NATO rhetoric and his air force’s behaviour represented “a situation that is not promising”. “I have said we are almost at the gates of a new kind of cold war,” he said, which had the potential to involve the entire of Europe.


The Finnish president’s comments came before a conference in Helsinki that will involve various northern European leaders, including David Cameron.

And he spoke after the MoD confirmed British jets had intercepted a Russian Tupolev Tu-95 bomber that was “approaching UK airspace” for the second time in three days.

It was intercepted by fighter jets from RAF Lossiemouth in Scotland and “escorted” out of British-monitored airspace on Friday.

A spokesperson from the RAF said: “Following a similar incident on Wednesday 29 October, the RAF Typhoon pilots visually identified the Russian aircraft and escorted them through the UK flight information region.”

That and other recent events led NATO to warn of an “unusual level” of Russian military activity in European airspace.