Vladimir Putin told the President of Finland he is making a ‘mistake’ by joining NATO and faces ‘no security threats’ in a phone call this morning.
In a speech on the 80th day of the war in Ukraine, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said: ‘The collective West has announced a total hybrid war on us.
‘It is difficult to forecast how long this will all last, but it is clear that the consequences will be felt by everybody without exception.
The Kremlin attack dog added: ‘We’ve done everything to avoid a direct clash but the challenge has been thrown to us and we accept it. Cancel culture against everything Russia is being used against us.’
‘We are doing everything we can to defend the interests of our citizens abroad. Ukraine is an instrument, a tool, to contain Russia’s peaceful development,’ he said.
As US President Joe Biden held a joint call with Finland’s leaders on Friday to support their NATO application, Russian officials responded with furious bluster, with one threatening to reduce the US to ‘nuclear ashes’ if America ‘threatens’ the Russian state.
‘The West is opposing Russia to the last Ukrainian, especially the United States which is [fighting] from beyond the ocean,’ said Lavrov.
‘Now [Secretary General Jens] Stoltenberg, through the mouth of Liz Truss, say NATO has responsibility for global security issues.’
Finnish President Sauli Niinistö said his conversation with Putin was ‘conducted without aggravations’ as both parties worked to ‘avoid tensions’.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and cyber-attacks on Finland and Sweden have ‘altered the security environment’ in Helsinki, Putin was told.
According to a Russian readout of the call, Putin said: ‘Abandoning the traditional policy of military neutrality would be a mistake, since there are no threats to Finland’s security.’
It wasn’t revealed how long the call went on or whether Niinisto had consulted other world leaders before speaking to Putin.
A senior Putin ally threatened to fire nuclear weapons at Britain, claiming it would take just three minutes.
Finland, whose President today called Putin to reveal his plans to join NATO, would be wiped out in seconds, Duma defence committee deputy chairman Aleksey Zhuravlyov boasted.
Zhuravlyov’s wild threats signal frustrations at Putin’s faltering invasion of Ukraine – and ire at Finland’s NATO bid.
The news came as Russia cut off electricity supplies to Finland this morning. The Nordic country imports ten per cent of its electricity from Russia.
President Sauli Niinistö phoned Putin this morning to discuss his country’s plans to join NATO, he said.
A readout from the Finnish president’s office stated: ‘President Niinistö told President Putin how fundamentally the Russian demands in late 2021 aiming at preventing countries from joining NATO and Russia’s massive invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 have altered the security environment of Finland.
‘President Niinistö noted that he had told President Putin already in their first meeting in 2012 that every independent nation maximizes its security. This is what is happening now, too.
Mr Niinistö added: ‘The conversation was direct and straight-forward and it was conducted without aggravations. Avoiding tensions was considered important.’
Russian power flows to Finland stopped as the state-owned importer has not received payments.
RAO Nordic had warned on Friday: ‘Unfortunately, we are forced to note that for the volumes which have been sold on Nord Pool exchange since May 6 funds have not yet been credited to our bank account.’
There’s enough electricity in Finland even without imports from Russia, according to Fingrid Oy, which operates the country’s transmission system.
Those flows have recently accounted for around ten per cent of consumption, it said in a statement.
Zhuravlyov told Russian state media: ‘If Finland wants to join this bloc, then our goal is absolutely legitimate – to question the existence of this state. This is logical.
‘If the United States threatens our state, it’s good: here is the Sarmat [Satan-2 missile] for you, and there will be nuclear ashes from you if you think that Russia should not exist.
‘And Finland says that it is at one with the USA. Well, get in line.
‘The Finns in general should be grateful to Russia for their statehood, for the fact that Finland exists as a country.’
Finland will become the sixth NATO member to share a lan
Asked if Russia would now rebase nuclear weapons onto its border with Finland, he said: ‘What for? We don’t need to.
‘We can hit with a Sarmat from Siberia, and even reach the UK.
‘And if we strike from Kaliningrad… the hypersonic’s reaching time is 200 seconds – so go ahead, guys.
‘On the Finnish border we will have not strategic weapons, but Kinzhal-class, one that will reach Finland in 20 seconds, or even 10 seconds.’
He said Russia would massively strengthen its military forces on its western flank.
This is natural. If so far we had not predicted possible hostilities on the part of Finland, then now they are quite possible.
‘And this must be taken into account, without a doubt.’
He claimed Finland is being provoked into joining NATO by the US and Britain.
‘The Finns have nothing to share with us. They receive more than 90 per cent gas, timber and much more from us.
‘Who needs fighting first of all? The Finns? They are not afraid that Russia is attacking them. ‘Of course, sooner or later the Americans will force them to do so.
‘Just as they forced Ukraine to do it, they are trying to force Poland and Romania. And, as practice shows, they succeed.
‘It is impossible to say that Finland will join NATO and behave towards us as before – this will not happen. The Americans will incite them to provocations.
‘We endure for a long time. But this cannot go on forever.’
Reflecting a view among hardliners around Vladimir Putin he said: ‘The United States will do everything possible to make World War III happen.
‘Just not on their territory.
‘They will try not to lead to nuclear strikes, but they will try to draw the whole of Europe into a conflict with Russia, inflame the situation in Asia, [and] set fire to as many countries as possible .
‘For them this will be a very good way out of the internal economic crisis.
‘They will be able to attribute all their problems to the war, as they already did in the First World War and the Second World War.
‘They got out of their crisis only thanks to the war in Europe. But there is a big danger: who guarantees that nuclear missiles will not fly? I do not guarantee this.’
Asked by Ura news outlet if Russia could strike first with nuclear weapons, he replied: ‘Certainly.’
Asked under what conditions, he replied this would happen if the existence of Russia was threatened.
Finland and Sweden were now ‘joining an Alliance that wants to destroy Russia. Therefore, we want to destroy them in response.’
Asked about Baltic countries Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, he said Russia would crush them when necessary.
‘We are definitely not afraid of these peanuts,’ he said.
‘They are as nasty as stink bugs. But they will need to be crushed when necessary. Now the bug is small and smelly.
It is unclear if the moves presage a more serious diplomatic rift with London.
The move coincided with the UK sanctioning Vladimir Putin’s supposed lover Alina Kabaeva, 39, an Olympic gold-medal winning gymnast and pro-Kremlin media company executive.
Moscow blames Britain for acting as a Western coordinator and cheerleader of the tough NATO response to Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
In a statement, the Russian foreign ministry said: ‘Taking into account the extremely unfriendly course of the UK towards our country, in order to avoid financial losses and other possible problems, we recommend that Russian citizens refrain, if possible, from traveling to the UK and trying to obtain British visas.
‘Until the situation is normalised, we will act in the same way with respect to the British.’
The statement said: ‘Recently, the Russian Foreign Ministry has received numerous complaints from Russian citizens that it has become virtually impossible or extremely difficult for them to obtain a visa to the UK.
‘We are talking not only about tourists, but also about Russians working in the United Kingdom on contracts, as well as those who want to visit relatives or reunite with their families.
‘In this regard, the issue of the current unacceptable situation was raised with the British embassy in Moscow, and they demanded clear explanations regarding the essence of the problem.
‘According to the explanations of the British, at present the UK Visa Service allegedly gives priority to the processing of visa applications for Ukrainian refugees.
‘For this reason, consideration of applications for British visas of Russians is significantly delayed.’
The ministry complained that ‘the situation is aggravated by the aspect associated with the mandatory prepayment of the consular fee by bank transfer after filling out the electronic questionnaire.
‘Given the anti-Russian sanctions imposed by London, it will not be possible to pay with Visa or Mastercard cards of the Russian issuing bank, since this must be done on the British website.
‘They directly pointed out to the British that this approach of London to ordinary citizens of our country contradicts all previously reached Russian-British agreements on consular issues.
‘They also declared the absolute unacceptability of such a dismissive attitude towards the Russians.
‘The corresponding actions of British officials can only be described as a politicised infringement of the rights of Russian citizens.’
The news comes as Russia’s attempt to pivot its invasion to southern and eastern Ukraine continues to fail.
Putin’s forces initially hoped to take Kyiv and decapitate Ukraine’s leadership in an all-out war, but faltered amid rugged resistance and a spate of military failings.
Russian tanks were pictured yesterday sunk in the Donbas river after failing twice to cross the strategic point.
Russia lost a whole battalion trying to cross the river on May 8 after Ukraine discovered plans – and made a second attempt on Thursday.
The army has lost more than 70 vehicles and seen two infantry battalions mangled in four days of attempts to bridge the river, according to Ukrainian investigative site InformNapalm.
It is just the latest humiliation for Putin’s army – once ranked second in the world – after commanders failed to capture the capital Kyiv, were beaten back from Mykolaiv by a rag-tag band of territorial defence troops and civilians, and got their Black Sea flagship Moskva sunk by Ukrainian missiles.
Commanders are now trying to seize control of the Donbas region – cynically claiming that was their true objective all along – but have so-far failed to make any significant breakthrough in almost a month of fighting, with Kyiv claiming Russia has suffered ‘colossal’ losses.
Russian military experts linked to the feared paramilitary Wagner Group of mercenaries blasted the ‘military genius’ of the leaders who bunched up the battalions so close together, making them sitting ducks for Ukraine.