Ukraine war: Russia would beef up border defenses if Finland joins NATO, says Moscow’s ambassador to EU

Russia will have to strengthen its defenses on the border with Finland if the Nordic country joins NATO, its ambassador to the EU has warned.

Speaking to Beth Rigby of Sky News, Vladimir Chizhov said that “it would require certain military technical measures, such as improving or increasing the degree of defense readiness along the border with Finland.”

Finland’s leaders have previously said it must apply to join the military alliance “without delay” to “strengthen” its security.

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The country shares a vast border of more than 800 miles (1,287 km) with its much larger neighbor, which invaded at the start of World War II.

Chizhov’s warning echoes earlier Kremlin comments that Finland would join NATO. would “definitely” be a threat for Russia and would trigger “retaliatory measures”.

The ambassador said he was “deeply disappointed and saddened” by Finnish and Swedish NATO ambitions.

He said Finland’s membership would “certainly require rethinking the Russian defense posture” but would not “necessarily [involve] troops and tanks, but definitely certain preparations…like radars, maybe.”

Russia has long sought to prevent NATO from expanding near its borders and wants Ukraine become neutral.

Finland’s president and prime minister made a joint statement on their membership ambitions on Thursday, signaling an end to their own policy of neutrality.

They said they hoped a decision on the application would “be made quickly in the next few days.”

“NATO membership would strengthen Finland’s security. As a NATO member, Finland would strengthen the entire defense alliance,” the statement added.

“Finland must apply for NATO membership without delay.”

The country’s army is 200,000 strong, almost three times the size of the British army.

“Russia could have crushed Ukraine”

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said Finland would be welcome and that accession would be “smooth and quick”.

Neighboring Sweden is expected to decide to join NATO in the coming days.

Russia’s ambassador to the EU also insisted that the war in Ukraine, or its “special military operation” as he calls it, “was proceeding on schedule” but “was not as fast as some people would have liked”.

Efforts to capture kyiv failed and the country is now focused on taking the eastern Donbas region.

However, analysts, including at the Pentagon, say it is still making slow progress with things almost at a standstill; while Ukraine has regained some territory, such as near Kharkiv in the northeast.

“If the Russian military had followed the pattern of the United States and other Western countries, we would have crushed Ukraine several times already,” Chizhov told Sky News.

He claimed that Russia never intended to capture Ukrainian territory, but only wanted to provide “security” for the self-proclaimed breakaway republics and demilitarize the country.

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The ambassador told Sky News he was “sure” there would be a negotiated solution to the war.

“When that happens, I won’t try to speculate,” he said.

“When that final solution will be seen, in detail, nobody knows. But in principle it will mean that Ukraine will be a neutral, non-aligned state with no foreign military presence on its territory.

“Ukraine will have recognized the Donbas republics and, of course, the reunification of Crimea with the Russian Federation.”

from Ukraine President Zelenskiy he has said he is willing to discuss neutrality but would not agree to a deal that gives up territory or allows Russian troops to remain in his country.