Russian President Putin. Sputnik photo
Russia will create a new military district to strengthen its positions near Finland in response to the country’s decision to join NATO, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced.
Putin made the comments in an interview with Russian journalist Pavel Zarubin broadcast on Sunday (December 17), saying that Helsinki has not had any real “trouble” with Moscow in decades. – but now it does.
“They occupied and pulled Finland into NATO. Do we have any disputes with Finland? All disputes, including those of a territorial nature in the mid-20th century, have been resolved since long,” Mr. Putin declared, noting that Russia actually has no territorial disputes with any NATO member state.
To counter the expansion of the US-led bloc, Russia is preparing to establish a completely new Leningrad Military District. As the name suggests, the new force will be stationed in the Leningrad Region in the northwest of the country, where the city of St. Petersburg – known as Leningrad during the Soviet Union.
Mr. Putin added that before Finland decided to join NATO, the two countries had the “most intimate” relationship. The president noted that the only “minor trouble” Moscow and Helsinki encountered was a business dispute surrounding the wood processing industry.
Finland announced its decision to join NATO a few months after the conflict between Ukraine and Russia broke out in February 2022. In April this year, the country became an official member of the US-led bloc. Moscow has repeatedly said that Finland’s decision was “wrong” due to the fact that the neighboring countries have no unresolved bilateral issues.
Last week, Helsinki announced plans to sign a Defense Cooperation Agreement (DCA) with the US, allowing Washington to station troops and stockpile weapons and ammunition in the country. Finland’s Foreign Ministry said Helsinki would open 15 zones across the country, to which Washington would be provided with “unhindered access and use”.