Kremlin chooses Finland as new ‘victim’ of information attacks after failed nuclear threats against U.S. – diplomat

This view was expressed by Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Andriy Veselovsky, Advisor to the Director of Ukraine’s National Institute for Strategic Studies, in a comment to Ukrinform.

The diplomat noted that while the Kremlin’s threats toward Finland resemble the rhetoric that preceded Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, he assesses the current situation differently.

“Medvedev is not an influential political figure in the Russian Federation. He’s a manufactured, Kremlin-scripted ‘scare tactic’ aimed at the uneducated and politically unaware. He serves as a symbolic representative for Russia’s most radical right-wing factions. That representative is Medvedev—the one shouting about bombing Berlin, storming London, and heading toward Washington next,” Veselovsky said.

He pointed out that Medvedev has been making such statements “for many months, if not years,” and in early August, “either out of spite or sheer recklessness,” went so far as to threaten a nuclear strike against the United States.

He recalled that Trump’s response was swift and firm—he ordered two U.S. nuclear submarines to be deployed to “appropriate regions” in case Medvedev’s “foolish and provocative” remarks escalated further. After that, Medvedev disappeared from public view for a time, which Veselovsky suggests may have been a signal to find a weaker target for his aggressive rhetoric. That’s when Finland “appeared,” with Russian officials beginning to accuse it—without basis—of aggression and preparing for war.

According to Veselovsky, Finland is a more convenient target for the Kremlin because, first, it is a non-nuclear state, and second, Russia can invoke the Soviet-Finnish War of 1939–1940 to claim that Finland ceded too little territory, and now “more must be taken,” while also criticizing its NATO membership.

Veselovsky described Medvedev’s accusations as “a jumble of completely unrealistic confusion about who’s to blame, who was the aggressor, and why Finland is now a NATO member.”

In this context, the diplomat emphasized that Finland joined NATO because the Russian Federation launched aggression against Ukraine, destroyed Finnish property and resources in the Baltic Sea, blocked maritime navigation, and disrupted GPS systems over Finland.

“In this situation, Medvedev and the entire Russian leadership under Putin need to assert themselves and find a new victim. That victim is now Finland. As for the United States, the ‘Medvedevs’ won’t provoke them anymore—because they’re afraid. That’s the whole story. That’s why Finland,” Veselovsky concluded.

As previously reported, Dmitry Medvedev published an article on the website of Russia’s state news agency TASS, in which he issued threats against Finland. He accused the country of pursuing “a confrontational course in preparation for war with Russia” and “building a springboard for an attack.” He warned that such confrontation “could lead to the collapse of Finnish statehood—forever.”