PETROZAVODSK. July 31 (Interfax) - Finland's accession to NATO poses a threat to Russia's national security, Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev has said.
"Finland's NATO membership considerably increases the length of NATO's border with our country and poses new threats to [Russia's] national security," Patrushev said at a conference on the security of Russia's internal republic of Karelia taking place in Petrozavodsk on Monday.
"The collective West has been taking steps for a long time to draw Finland into an anti-Russian campaign, including by using the farfetched Karelia issue and speculating on an alleged Russian threat," he said.
Patrushev said he was referring to Finland's claims on areas in western Karelia, which became part of the Soviet Union in line with the Soviet-Finnish peace treaty of February 10, 1947.