In a recent interview with the propaganda newspaper “Rossijskaja gazeta,” V. Kulišov stated that the Finnish authorities have installed engineering barriers “in places not foreseen in the June 23, 1960 Treaty on the State Border Regime between the Soviet Union and Finland,” the news portal “The Moscow Times” wrote on Wednesday.
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Moreover, he claimed that Estonia is trying to “not comply with agreements on the delimitation of the Peipus Lake and Narva River water areas.”
According to V. Kulišov, these actions create conditions that cause problems at the state border and negatively affect navigation safety in the border water bodies.
He also continued the Kremlin propaganda narrative by reporting on increased, in his words, “provocative actions” from both Finland and Estonia. As examples, he mentioned border crossing restrictions such as reduced working hours, checkpoint closures, and stricter controls on people and transport.
According to the head of the FSB unit, these measures “violate the rights and interests of the citizens of these countries and Russia.”
The Kremlin-loyal official mentioned that, despite Moscow’s calls, Helsinki and Tallinn have not shown a “constructive approach” to resolving these issues, which, he said, forces Russia to prepare for “various event scenarios.”
Speaking about the situation on Russia’s western border, V. Kulišov continued the particularly clear Russian propaganda rhetoric observed in May, directed against the Baltic states and Finland. According to him, the situation at the border has “significantly escalated.”
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The Russian official leveled accusations against Finland, the Baltic states, and Poland for strengthening military capabilities, building new bases, and transferring large quantities of weapons and troops. However, no specific examples were provided.
According to V. Kulišov, these countries actively conduct exercises “under NATO’s auspices,” during which, he believes, they train for “scenarios of confrontation with Russia.”
He emphasized that Moscow views these events as a “threat to national security” and is increasing its military groups “on the border with unfriendly European states.”
15min reminds that Kremlin host Vladimir Putin signed a law on May 25 allowing the use of the military to protect Russian citizens abroad “in cases of their detention, arrest, criminal or other persecution.”
Similar legal grounds were used by the parliament before the 2014 annexation of Crimea and the 2022 large-scale invasion of Ukraine.
On the same day, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced plans to appeal to the International Court of Justice to “defend” the rights of Russian speakers living in the Baltic states. The ministry claimed that the authorities of Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia prohibit them from using the Russian language, rewrite history, and carry out a “policy of punitive repression and intimidation.”
