Quote Originally Posted by OUTLAW 09 View Post
Light humor........

We will react if "Finland" joins @NATO. We'll violate their air & sea space and keep nukes pointed at them.

Like now.

BUT then not so light.........

Putin hints Russia will react if Finland joins NATO
http://reut.rs/29bqfP8

Might be imprudent for Russia to alienate another neighbor. It is already diplomatically over-extended.
http://reut.rs/29bqfP8
Putin stated in the article: "Do you think we will keep it as it is: our troops at 1,500 (kilometers, 900 miles) away?"

Unfortunately, he must not be a student of geography, or perhaps his orders to redeploy Russian forces east of the Urals before the impending NATO offensive was ignored...

More than one major Western Military District base is within 500 km of Finland, mainly due to the proximity of Saint Petersburg. I fail to see how Putin can militarize the district even more unless he camps 40,000 troops on Finland's borders as he did with Ukraine.

Regardless of the math, this is a threat one must take seriously, as Finland's non-aligned and Soviet-sensitive status was one of the perks of the Cold War. He may very well calculate that using force on Finland would bring back that status and discourage Sweden from forging closer ties to NATO. Finland is a key "buffer" for Russia, as much as Ukraine or Belarus is.