MOSCOW/HELSINKI (Reuters) -The Kremlin, commenting on media reports that Poland plans to send “troops” to Finland’s border with Russia, said on Wednesday such a move could stoke tensions and that Russia would see it as a threat.
Poland was sending “a team of military advisors” to Finland, in response to “an official request for allied support in the face of a hybrid attack on the Finnish border,” the head of Poland’s National Security Bureau Jacek Siewiera said in a post on the X social media platform.
“A team of military advisors will provide on-site knowledge on border security, also in operational terms,” he said.
Finland has closed its border with Russia after a sudden wave of refugee arrivals that Helsinki said was orchestrated by Moscow, something Russia has denied.
Contacted by Reuters, 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 Nov. 20-21, was not immediately available for comment.
In a call with reporters, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in reference to Poland’s possible moving of troops to the border: “This is an absolutely redundant measure to ensure border security, because there is no threat there.”
“The Finns must be clearly aware that this will pose a threat to us – an increase in the concentration of military units on our borders.”
Any planned deployment would be unprovoked and unjustified, said Peskov.
(Reporting by Reuters, Anne Kauranen in Helsinki;Writing by Felix Light;Editing by Andrew Osborn and Bernadette Baum)
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