Russia to change military approach on Finnish border: Medvedev

ISTANBUL

Russia will adjust its military approach along the border with Finland due to the country’s NATO membership, Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev said Friday in Svetogorsk, Leningrad region.

“We will in any case prepare for what has changed – and in our relations too. Because we cannot ignore the fact that Finland is currently a member of the North Atlantic Alliance. This predetermines a change in our military approaches to the arrangement of the border and to the repulsion of possible unfriendly acts,” Medvedev told reporters, according to comments published on the Russian social media platform VKontakte.

The former Russian president also targeted the Western-led “coalition of the willing,” which met in Paris on Thursday to discuss military support for Ukraine.

Medvedev described the initiative as “nonsense,” saying: “This is complete nonsense, heresy. What they are doing is – to put it in English – bulls**t or just sh*t, call it what you like,” he said.

French President Emmanuel Macron, who hosted the meeting, announced that 26 states had confirmed readiness to send a military contingent to Ukraine once a ceasefire or peace deal is reached.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also attended, with a total of 35 countries represented.

Medvedev further dismissed proposed “security guarantees” for Kyiv, claiming they would amount to nothing.

Finland officially joined NATO in April 2023, ending decades of military non-alignment.

Its membership added more than 1,300 kilometers (807 miles) to the alliance’s border with Russia, which Moscow has repeatedly described as a security concern.