Putin warns Finland it has ‘made a mistake’ joining Nato – as Russia ramps up nuclear threat

We could destroy UK or US in seconds, says tyrant’s ally

A FURIOUS Vladimir Putin yesterday warned Finland’s president that he was making a mistake by joining Nato.

Following a tense call in which Sauli Niinisto confirmed his country’s intention to formally seek entry to the military alliance within days, the Kremlin warned of a ‘negative impact on Russian-Finnish relations’ and said Putin had stressed the ‘end of the traditional policy of military neutrality would be a mistake since there is no threat to Finland’s security’.

It came as Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused the West of launching ‘a total hybrid war’.

In what was seen as a threat to use nuclear weapons, Mr Lavrov raged: ‘It is difficult to forecast how long this will all last, but it is clear that the consequences will be felt by everybody without exception.

‘We’ve done everything to avoid a direct clash but the challenge has been thrown to us and we accept it. Cancel culture against everything Russia is being used against us.’

Furious about Finland’s Nato move, Russia yesterday

‘They want to destroy Russia, we want to destroy them in response’

cut electricity supplies to the country with which it shares a 810-mile border.

Sweden has also expressed a desire to join the military alliance of 30 Western powers, including Britain and the US.

Mr Niinisto said he had told Putin that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine had ‘altered the security environment of Finland’.

He added: ‘The conversation was direct and straightforward and it was conducted without aggravations.’

The desire of Finland and Sweden to join Nato has infuriated Russian hardliners. One senior Putin ally threatened to reduce the US to ‘nuclear ashes’, while Aleksey Zhuravlyov, deputy chairman of the defence committee of the Duma, or state assembly, said they were ‘joining an alliance that wants to destroy Russia. Therefore, we want to destroy them in response.’

Mr Zhuravlyov warned darkly that Finland could be hit with nuclear bombs in ‘ten seconds’ and Britain in ‘200 seconds’.

Meanwhile, popular Russian TV presenter Dmitry Kiselyov told viewers that Britain should be flooded, first using Russia’s Satan-2 missiles and then its ‘underwater robotic drone Poseidon’.

Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev last week also warned of the growing risk of nuclear war.

The imminent Nato applications by Finland and Sweden may be blocked by Turkey, whose president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, says he could not support the applications because of Kurdish terrorist organisations operating in Nordic countries. All 30 Nato member states must sign off on new entrants to the alliance.

Putin’s rage came as foreign ministers from the G7 nations – Canada, Germany, France, Italy, Japan, the UK and the US – declared that they would never recognise new borders as a result of Russia’s invasion, would extend sanctions and continue to supply Ukraine with weapons. They warned China against attempting to undermine Western sanctions against Russia.

Meanwhile, India announced an export ban on its wheat, overturning a promise to boost supplies to help feed the rest of the world.

Ukraine is a big exporter of grains such as wheat, but has been hit by the Russian blockade of Black Sea ports. Between them, India and Ukraine account for about a third of global annual wheat sales.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said Moscow was ‘threatening the world that there will be famine in dozens of countries’.