Russia announced on Thursday that it was closing Finland’s consulate in St. Petersburg and expelling nine diplomats from the northern country in response to the expulsion of the same number of Russian diplomats from Helsinki, France Presse and Reuters reported, citing Agerpres.

“Nine employees of the Embassy of Finland in Russia and the Consulate General of Finland in St. Petersburg have been declared persona non grata,” the Russian Foreign Ministry reported.

The ministry added that the contract on the work of the Consulate General of Finland in St. Petersburg will expire on October 1.

These measures were announced to the Ambassador of Finland, Antti Helantere, who was summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Moscow.

A “passionate protest” was sent to the ambassador due to the “conflicting and anti-Russian policy” of the Finnish authorities, which, according to Russian diplomacy, is aimed at “destroying decades of mutually beneficial Russian-Finnish relations.”

“Finland’s entry into NATO is a threat to Russia’s security”

Relations between the two neighbors have deteriorated sharply since the Russian army invaded Ukraine in late February 2022. Since then, Finland has broken decades of military non-alignment by joining NATO in May 2022, of which it officially became a member in April.

Russia’s war in Ukraine, which Moscow calls a “special military operation,” has prompted Finland to seek to join NATO’s transatlantic defense alliance.

“It was stated that the currently discussed parameters of Finland’s accession to NATO pose a threat to the security of the Russian Federation and incite the Kyiv regime to war, and pumping it with Western weapons is clearly hostile actions against our country,” condemned This is stated in a statement of Russian diplomacy, quoted by Reuters .

“This line of Finnish authorities cannot remain unanswered,” the statement added.

“Harsh and asymmetric response.” What measures will Finland take?

In May, Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto said that at the end of April, Russia had frozen the bank accounts of the Finnish embassy in Moscow and the consulate in St. Petersburg.

This account freeze coincides with the announcement by Finnish public company Fortum that Moscow had taken control of its Russian subsidiary after President Vladimir Putin signed a presidential decree approving the move.

In February, Finland also began construction of a 200-kilometer pilot fence project on its border with Russia amid fears in Helsinki that Moscow could use the flow of migrants crossing the border to exert pressure.

Finnish President Sauli Niiniste called Russia’s recent measures “a harsh and asymmetric response to Finland’s expulsion decision.”

He said that in response, Finland is preparing to close the Russian consulate in Turku.

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