NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH

Russia Threatens ‘Full-Blown Nuclear War’ as Finland Moves to Join NATO

“This will be a disastrous scenario for everyone,” Dmitry Medvedev said after Finland said it would apply to join the alliance.

Russia has hinted at “full-blown nuclear war” after Finland moved to join NATO. In a lengthy post on Telegram blasting NATO members for “pumping weapons into Ukraine,” former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy chairman of the country’s Security Council, accused the West of waging a “proxy war” against Russia. “Such a conflict always has the risk of turning into a full-fledged nuclear war,” he wrote. “This will be a disastrous scenario for everyone,” he said, calling on NATO states to “think about the possible consequences of their actions.” His comments came as Sweden and Finland expressed interest in joining NATO. The two Scandinavian nations had always expressed a more pacifist approach to the trans-Atlantic military alliance. “Russia is not the neighbor we thought it was,” Finland’s Prime Minister Sanna Marin said after the invasion, which prompted a process to join NATO that is predicted to be formally announced Sunday. Sweden, which does not share a land border with Russia like Finland’s 810-mile frontier, also expressed concern. “When Russia invaded Ukraine, Sweden’s security position changed fundamentally,” the Swedish government said at the time of the invasion.