MOSCOW/HELSINKI (Portal) – Commenting on media reports that Poland plans to send “troops” to Finland’s border with Russia, the Kremlin said on Wednesday that such a move could stoke tensions and that Russia would see it as a threat.
Poland is sending “a team of military advisers” to Finland in response to “an official request for allied support in the face of a hybrid attack on the Finnish border,” said the head of Poland’s National Security Office Jacek Siewiera in a post on the X social media Platform.
“A team of military advisors will provide on-site knowledge on border security, including operationally,” he said.
Finland has closed its border with Russia after a sudden wave of refugees that Helsinki said was orchestrated by Moscow, which Russia has denied.
When contacted by Portal, Finnish authorities said they were not immediately aware of such plans and could not comment.
Finnish President Sauli Niinisto, who visited his Polish counterpart Andrzej Duda in Warsaw on November 20 and 21, could not immediately be reached for comment.
In a phone call with reporters, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said of Poland’s possible troop deployment to the border: “This is an absolutely unnecessary measure to ensure border security, because there is no danger there.”
“Finns must be aware that this represents a threat to us – an increasing concentration of military units on our borders.”
Any planned deployment would be unprovoked and unjustified, said Peskov.
(Reporting by Portal, Anne Kauranen in Helsinki; Writing by Felix Light; Editing by Andrew Osborn and Bernadette Baum)