MOSCOW. April 4 (Interfax) - NATO's enlargement encroaches upon Russian national interests, but the situation with regards to Finland is drastically different from that of Ukraine, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
Journalists asked Peskov on Tuesday to comment on Finland's accession to NATO and wondered whether the Kremlin viewed this as a geopolitical defeat, considering that "the threat of NATO's enlargement towards Russian borders" was a reason for the beginning of the special military operation in Ukraine.
"The Kremlin views this as yet another escalation. NATO's enlargement encroaches upon our security and the national interests of Russia, as we have said earlier. That is how we view it. Naturally, we are forced to take countermeasures to ensure national security in tactical and strategic terms," Peskov said.
Nevertheless, "the Finland situation clearly differs drastically from that of Ukraine," he said.
"First of all, Finland has never become 'anti-Russia', and we have had no disputes with Finland," Peskov said.
As for Ukraine, "the situation is diametrically different and potentially much more dangerous," he said.
"This very fact dictated the need to conduct the special military operation and achieve every declared objective," Peskov said.
Journalists asked Peskov to specify the countermeasures he mentioned.
"The ones that Russia deems to be necessary. We will closely follow events in Finland, [and] how NATO uses Finnish territory in terms of deploying weapons, systems and infrastructure placed along our borders which would potentially be a threat to us. Measures will be taken depending on this," Peskov said.
He added that representatives of the Russian Armed Forces would timely report specific measures.
The entry of particular countries into NATO will inevitably affect their relations with Russia, Peskov said.
"Indeed, this cannot help but affect the nature of bilateral relations with the countries that become new members of the alliance. After all, the alliance is a structure that is unfriendly, or even to a large extent hostile towards the Russian Federation," he said.