ROME, May 12. /TASS/. NATO’s further expansion, including the admission of Finland, is fraught with the risk of the current regional crisis developing into a continental one. Also, it delays the achievement of a lasting peace and stability, the chairman of the Vision and Global Trends International Institute for Global Analyses, Tiberio Graziani, told TASS in an interview.

"Finland’s accession to NATO is a vivid example of the alliance’s strategy of intentionally expanding the horizons of the Russian-Ukrainian crisis. Also, it demonstrates NATO’s expansionist logic. Its near-term aim is to prolong this crisis temporarily. The effects of this decision may be catastrophic for Europe. There is a risk the regional crisis will develop into a continental one," he warned.

Graziani is certain that this march of events would benefit only the United States and Britain.

In geostrategic terms the whole of Europe will begin to be seen by Russia as a US stronghold deployed against it in the very heart of Europe, he went on to say. "The alliance continues to ignore Moscow’s security arguments and its further expansion may be regarded as an attempt to intimidate and humiliate Russia. Peace prospects become more remote," he concluded.

According to a joint statement by Finland’s President Sauli Niinisto and Prime Minister Sanna Marin, Finland should apply for accession to NATO as soon a possible. A formal decision is expected to be adopted on Sunday, May 15. The Russian Foreign Ministry interpreted such statements as a radical change in the country’s foreign policy. It warned that Russia would have to take retaliatory military-technical steps to neutralize threats to its national security stemming from the possibility of Finland’s admission to NATO.