Russia’s Putin has said it will deploy troops, military equipment to the Finnish border after Finland enters NATO
Russia’s Putin has said it will deploy troops, military equipment to the Finnish border after Finland enters NATO.
Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo stated on Wednesday that Russia was preparing for a "prolonged conflict with the West" and called for increased spending and coordination on European defense.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, in comments published on Wednesday, dismissed Finland and Sweden's potential NATO membership as "meaningless" and announced Russia's intention to deploy troops and destructive systems to the Finnish border following Finland's NATO accession.
Addressing the European Parliament, Orpo remarked, "Russia is evidently preparing for a prolonged conflict with the West and poses a continual and significant military threat to Europe."
"If we, as a unified Europe, do not adequately respond to this challenge, the coming years will be fraught with danger and the looming threat of attack,"
Orpo, whose country shares a border with Russia, called on the 27-member EU to increase defense spending and emphasized the bloc's need to ensure its own defense.
"Russia is not unbeatable," he emphasized.
Putin also cautioned the West on Wednesday that Russia was technically prepared for nuclear war and warned that sending troops to Ukraine would be considered a major escalation of the conflict by the U.S.