April 14, 2023

Why are Russians so pressed about Finland joining NATO when it is only their fault?

The reason why Russia is so upset by Finland joining NATO is quite simple really.

Small history lesson first.

In WW1 and WW2, the Soviet Union lost about 10% and 25% of the most economically valuable demographic. The 18 thru 40-year-old age group, they also vowed to never allow another European invasion of “Mother Russia”. This was a bedrock of the Soviet foreign policy. The light red on the map illustrates the buffer zone, that would have to be invaded before you could invade “Mother Russia”.
US foreign policy, since the 1950s, has always been containment of the “Communist Countries”.
This difference in the foreign policy of the two superpowers created both NATO and the Warsaw Pact.
Fast forward to 1990, and the Soviet Union, and the Warsaw Pact break up. The Soviet Union becomes the Russian Federation and begins to rebuild.
One small problem, many of the Warsaw Pact nations apply and are admitted into NATO. By 2020 the buffer zone that protected “Mother Russia” is gone and for the first time since 1990, the Russian Federation is completely hemmed in. (see second map).
If you study Russian history and culture. For the most part, Russian people are mostly conservative and have almost a paranoid mindset. The mistrust of Western European and US motives is almost a religion. Really who can blame them? Between WW1 and WW2 Western Europeans killed 4 million in WW1 and 27 million Russian citizens in WW2. The worst part is the dead mostly came from the 18–40 age demographic. This is the age group that powers the economic might of a nation and between WW1 and WW2 almost 25% of this potential was lost.
Fast Forward to today, and the US and NATO’s foreign policy of containment, is almost complete. See the third Map.
- In the Baltic Sea the Russian Federation, access to the North Atlantic is completely under the control of NATO. The GIUK gap is also under the control of NATO countries.
- In the South, NATO nations include Romania, Bulgaria, and Turkey, giving control of the Black Sea to NATO. If Ukraine joins NATO, Russia is almost completely cut off from the Black Sea.
- In the Pacific, Japan, and South Korea limit the Russian presence in the Pacific.
The US and its Allies have won the diplomatic war against Russia, and just as importantly China is seeing how this foreign policy of containment has succeeded. They are actively attempting to undermine or convert some of the US allies to either neutral or pro-Chinese. The Chinese also understand it took the US over 60 years to accomplish this.

So, to finally answer the question.

” Why are Russians so pressed about Finland joining NATO when it is only their fault?”

The answer is they finally realized that they lost the diplomatic war and the US and NATO policy of containment is almost complete. That with containment, the Russian diplomatic power, is limited, and they are running out of time to maintain the minor soft power they have left, and the Russian military power is limited because access to the world by Russia is in the hands of NATO.

Below are 3 maps that illustrate, the Russian Federation’s view of NATO.