The United States recently signed an agreement to expand military cooperation with Finland. This came a day after Vladimir Putin said in an interview on state television that the West had “pulled” Finland into NATO.
Putin also said that if Helsinki did not have problems with Moscow, they would soon appear, promising to station additional troops near the Finnish border.
In turn, US Secretary of State Blinken recalled on Monday that in 1939 the Finns “faced a Russian invasion and proved that a free country can provide incredibly strong and resilient resistance.”
Earlier, President Joe Biden admitted that in the future Russia could attack US NATO allies if it does not now continue to provide the necessary assistance to Ukraine, and then the prospect of a direct clash between Russian and American troops will arise.
Putin, in the same television interview, said that Russia has absolutely no intention of fighting with NATO countries. According to him, Moscow “has no interest in this – neither geopolitical, nor economic, nor political, nor military.”
However, the Kremlin spoke in exactly the same way about Ukraine on the eve of a full-scale invasion of it.
Undoubtedly, by unleashing a war against Ukraine, it was Putin who pushed Finland and Sweden to join the North Atlantic Alliance, the head of the Penta Center for Applied Political Research is sure. Vladimir Fesenko. In his opinion, before the Russian aggression, neither Helsinki nor Stockholm took any obvious steps to join NATO.
“Moreover, even the prospect of their joining the alliance seemed more theoretical than practical,” he clarified in an interview with Voice of America. “It was the Russian invasion of Ukraine that became the catalyst for the process. So Putin should thank himself first of all for his contribution to NATO expansion.”
The same can be said about Ukraine, Vladimir Fesenko continued: “Before the annexation of Crimea in 2014, the majority of Ukrainians did not want to join NATO, and there were about 20% in favor of joining. After Crimea, and especially the war in Donbass, the situation changed dramatically. About half of Ukrainians were already in favor of membership in the alliance. And now this position is shared by the absolute majority – more than 80%. And this was precisely a consequence of the war.”
This is Putin’s usual tactic – to make a test run, publicly declaring Moscow’s supposedly non-aggressive plans, the political scientist also believes: “The main thing is that he is not going to stop the war, as is clear from the latest “Direct Line”, everything else is of an applied nature. He always has a Kalashnikov assault rifle in one hand and an olive branch of peace in the other. At the same time, the machine gun shows his real intentions, and the olive branch is a camouflage to draw the West into some kind of negotiation process and achieve its goals. “Putin needs pseudo-negotiations that won’t stop him from waging war.”
However, from Putin’s statement there is also an understanding that the potentials of the parties are completely incomparable, noted Vladimir Fesenko: “Any military expert will tell you that in a conventional war against NATO, there is nothing for Russia. Putin cannot defeat even one Ukraine, but fighting a whole bloc, and even on several fronts, is a guaranteed loss, and nuclear war is collective suicide.” So from a rational point of view, this is a fairly sincere statement.”
Vladimir Putin perfectly understands all the risks of a war with NATO, but cannot do anything about his “anti-NATO paranoia,” the head of the Penta Center for Applied Political Research concluded.
Putin made an attempt to demonstrate peaceful intentions, according to political observer Ivan Preobrazhensky. In his opinion, the message of the Russian ruler is aimed primarily at the domestic audience, as well as at lobbyists for Russian interests in the West.
“Thus, the president gives an opportunity to those who advocate forcing Ukraine into negotiations to put more pressure on Kyiv, using this statement as an additional tool,” he said in a commentary to the Russian service of the Voice of America. – In reality, you have to believe what various unofficial and official Russian figures, including heavy drinkers, say. For example, read Dmitry Medvedev’s Telegram channel, where Russia’s intentions are clearly stated more openly than in Putin’s interview.”
In addition, it is quite obvious that the words of the Russian president that the West forcibly dragged Finland into NATO do not stand up to criticism, Ivan Preobrazhensky emphasized: “In fact, Putin himself kicked Helsinki and Stockholm into the North Atlantic Alliance. These countries, which managed to adhere to a policy of neutrality even under the Soviet Union, decided to quickly join NATO after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. In addition, Moscow began to threaten other neighboring countries – the Baltic ones.”
It has now become completely clear that the reason for Russia’s aggression is the desire to destroy Ukraine as a state, the observer believes. “Well, then Russia will try to increase its military potential and will prepare for a serious confrontation with NATO. In addition, Putin himself has repeatedly said publicly that the war is not with Ukraine, but with the West. And all Russian propagandists unanimously repeat this. And the West is NATO. So, in official rhetoric, Moscow has been waging war with the West for a long time, so full support for Ukraine is more relevant than ever,” concluded Ivan Preobrazhensky.
As the White House said on Monday, the United States is going to allocate another aid package to Ukraine by the end of December, then Congress will have to take measures to continue supporting Kyiv.
