Moscow warns Finland will ‘suffer,’ in latest round of saber rattling

Finland would be “the first to suffer” if war broke out between NATO and Russia, one of Moscow’s top diplomats said.

“Since they are our neighbors, if, God forbid there is some escalation, they will be the first to suffer,” Mikhail Ulyanov, Russia’s permanent representative to international organizations in Vienna, told Russian state-owned news agency RIA Novosti in an interview published Thursday.

Finland joined NATO in April this year, becoming the alliance’s 31st member, in response to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Finland shares a 1,340-kilometer border with Russia, the longest of any NATO member.

Ulyanov also hit out at Finland’s decision to sign a Defense Cooperation Agreement with the U.S. in December, giving American troops access to Finnish bases and allowing the U.S. to store military equipment on Finnish soil.

“This is already a serious challenge,” he said.

Finland this month temporarily closed its land border with Russia in response to a large number of migrants and asylum seekers crossing it. Helsinki has accused Russia of being behind the influx, which the Kremlin denies.