Russia is threatening NATO-member Finland with a coordinated information campaign that mirrors the exact playbook the Kremlin used to justify its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
It comes amid Vladimir Putin's heightened show of aggression towards Europe with Moscow's unprecedented intrusion into both Polish and Romanian airspace in the space of just a few days, triggering condemnation from NATO and a new resolve to stand up to the dictator.
Several senior Kremlin figures have been making verbal attacks against Finland in recent days, disparaging the northern European nation as if to lay the groundwork for an offensive, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) has warned.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov claimed on September 18 that the Finnish government’s 'neutral veneer peeled off' and that revanchism is 'literally on the rise'.
Sergei Ivanov, special presidential envoy for the environment and transport, said Russian-Finnish relations 'practically do not exist' and are unlikely to improve given the fact that Finland is a NATO member and is 'actively calling for strengthening [its] eastern border'.
