MOSCOW, November 28. /TASS/. The Russian side knows that Finland has already agreed to allow NATO forces to be deployed on its territory, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko said.
"Evidently, the entire [North-Atlantic] alliance has increased the zone of contact with its main enemy, as Russia is viewed by the alliance, by 1,300 kilometers. And they will demand that Finland do what other allies are doing, i.e. take all necessary measures and deploy foreign forces on its territory. We know that Finland has signed relevant bilateral agreements," he said at the Primakov Readings forum.
In this context, he stressed that Russia will be taking all possible precautions in response to NATO’s activity near its borders. "We will do this, as the Russian president [Vladimir Putin] said, based on real changes in the military situation. I mean the military forces that can be deployed or appear along our borders," he said, adding that NATO’s military activity near the Russian border "creates a military-political reality, which is heavily charged with destabilization."
The 9th Primakov Readings international forum is being held in Moscow from November 27 to 28. TASS is the general information partner of the Primakov Readings international forum and conference.