Finnish military personnel during an exercise. Archival photoMOSCOW, 22 Jun. Finland has been preparing for a «Russian attack» for decades and is ready to resist if it happens, Timo Kivinen, commander of the Finnish Defense Forces, said in an interview with Reuters. , with a massive use of firepower, armored forces and aviation,» he said. he did not provide evidence of an «attack» being prepared for Finland. Sweden and Finland started talking about the possibility of joining the North Atlantic Alliance against the backdrop of a Russian special operation in Ukraine and submitted an application for entry on May 18. Turkey, in turn, blocked the process of considering it. The President of the Republic, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said that he had vetoed it because of the position of Stockholm and Helsinki in relation to the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) banned in Turkey. Russia has repeatedly noted that NATO is aimed at confrontation. Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that further expansion of the bloc would not bring greater security to Europe. At the same time, he emphasized that he did not consider the entry of Sweden and Finland into NATO an existential threat to Russia. in negotiations
