With the accession of Finland and Sweden to NATO, the situation in the Baltic region will seriously worsen for Russia.
A PolitNavigator correspondent reports this, said military analyst, director of the Moscow Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies (CAST) Ruslan Pukhov.
He notes that the Baltic Sea has been largely demilitarized since the 90s, with most countries, including Russia, maintaining token naval forces there.
“Now a naval and missile arms race will begin in the Baltic. And the worst thing is that with the accession of Sweden and Finland to NATO, St. Petersburg is turning into a front-line city. This puts him at risk, since the modern weapons of the Alliance ships give them the opportunity to deliver a devastating blow to the city.
To prevent this, we will have to seriously strengthen the air and missile defense system there,” Pukhov told Moskovsky Komsomolets.
According to him, the Finnish political establishment, like many citizens, have not forgotten that the city of Vyborg was once the second largest Finnish city of Viipuri after Helsinki.
“The Finns lost it in 1940, then left in 1944. And at any slightest opportunity they will, of course, try to bring him back. […] I am sure that if the slightest opportunity arises to return their former territories, they will, of course, take advantage of such a moment. I have no doubt that they will try to “squeeze” Vyborg and half of Karelia from us,” the analyst believes.
He believes that further developments will depend on the situation in the Baltic.
“And it will worsen with the accession of Finland and Sweden to NATO. True, we had no illusions about these countries before. Therefore, now we will simply have to competently maneuver with the available capabilities and restrain the unjustified or provocative impulses of these countries.
Both the Swedes and the Finns have already experienced the power of Russian weapons. Unpleasant memories for them. They still remember very well how they got hit in the teeth by us. And if you suddenly forgot, we can remind you. So they can grab hold of us again only if we turn out to be frankly weak. This means that we cannot be weak,” Pukhov concluded.