A concerted effort to stir up hysteria in the Baltic Sea between Russia and NATO is underway. An article in the Finnish paper Iltalehti claims to cite a Finnish government military report warning that Moscow intends to attack Finland and neighboring countries, including the Baltic states in the future, though without specifying a timeframe, reported Newsweek. The Finnish tabloid referred to how Russia had allegedly rehearsed an attack on Norway, Finland, and the Baltic countries during its Zapad military exercise in 2017 and that Moscow has since “not abandoned their invasion plan and want to carry it out after the war in Ukraine.”
When contacted by Newsweek—which describes the Finnish government report as “alleged”—the Finnish Defense Forces (FDF) said in a statement it would not comment on media reports “about any possible rehearsals in other countries,” and that such rehearsals “are normal for any military.” “There is no immediate military threat to Finland,” the statement said.
The report cited by Iltalehti alleges that Putin’s special military operation in Ukraine “has shown that Russia is prepared to take significant risks regardless of losses.” The newspaper claimed that NATO sources had said Russia might plan a simultaneous attack on different parts of the Alliance’s eastern flank. Unnamed NATO sources also said that Moscow would try to create a buffer zone in Northern Lapland and Finnmark in Norway, while farther south, Russian missile forces would target the southern coast of Finland and southeastern Finland, the outlet reported. “Russia’s security thinking reflects the pursuit of strategic depth and the desire to create a single buffer zone in Europe, from the Arctic through the Baltic Sea and the Black Sea to the Mediterranean,” the Finnish government report said, according to Iltalehti.
