Finnish President Sauli Niinisto (R) and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin arrive at Forum Marinum harbour in TurkuReuters
By
Jack Moore
One of Russian President Vladimir Putin's closest ex-advisers has
claimed that the ex-KGB agent ultimately wants to reclaim Finland for
Russia.
Andrej Illiaronov, Putin's economic adviser between 2000 and 2005 and
now senior member of the Cato Institute think tank, said that "parts of
Georgia, Ukraine, Belarus, the Baltic States and Finland are states
where Putin claims to have ownership."
"Putin's view is that he protects what belongs to him and his predecessors," he said.
When asked if Putin wishes to return to the Russia of the last tsar,
Nicholas II, Illiaronov said: "Yes, if it becomes possible."
Illiaronov admits that Finland is not Putin's primary concern at
present but, if not stopped in other areas of Eastern Europe, the issue
will one day arise. Russian troops are currently massing on the eastern
border of Ukraine, following Russia's recent annexation of Crimea.
"Putin said several times that the Bolsheviks and Communists made big
mistakes. He could well say that the Bolsheviks in 1917 committed
treason against Russian national interests by providing Finland's
independence," Illiaronov told a Swedish news website.
He believes that Putin is not planning to invade Ukraine for
territorial gain but rather "the goal is a pro-Russian puppet government
in Kiev."
"Six years ago Putin conquered Abkhazia and South Ossetia from
Georgia. The west let him do it with impunity, and now he has got
Crimea," he continued.
"Now, eastern and southern Ukraine is destablised so that the
self-defence forces can take power there. If the situation allows, it
may be a military invasion."
Finland was a part of the Russian Empire for 108 years but broke away in 1917 at the end of the first world war.
The Scandinavian nation was attacked at the beginning of the second
world war by the Soviet Union, with Finland fighting the winter war and
the continuation war in resistance and losing 10% of its pre-war
territory.
Finland is not a member of Nato, so any invasion of its land would
not constitute an attack against all members under Article 5 of Nato's
founding Washington Treaty.
Related
Reading:
No comments:
Post a Comment