... top Kremlin-installed official in the oblast, Yevgeny Balitsky, said Russia should also have its eye on the Baltic states, as well as Poland and Finland, all five of which are
NATO countries. In April,
Finland became NATO's 31st member, joining Poland and the Baltic states in the 31-member alliance, whose fifth article says that an attack on one state is an attack on all. In the interview shared by Russia watcher Julia Davis, Balitsky seemed ready to take on the alliance as he spoke of how the Russian Empire that ended with the 1917 revolution had "lost its footing" as well as "great numbers of people.""I'm not even talking about territories. I understand that it includes Warsaw, Helsinki, also known as Helsingfors," he said.
The Russian Empire, which existed between 1721 and 1917, covered a vast territory. Finland was part of Russia's empire until it declared its independence after the Russian Revolution. The 1918 Treaty of Brest-Litovsk saw revolutionary Russia renounce its claims on Polish territories. Balitsky described how "all of the Baltics" were "all our lands, and our people live there," noting the Russian-speaking population in those countries.