A Russian Bear 'H' aircraft photographed from an intercepting RAF Typhoon near UK airspace
Sauli Niinisto said the US and EU were failing to take Vladimir Putin’s actions seriously, even after he annexed Crimea and after repeated reports of Russian involvement in the conflict in eastern Ukraine.
Advisers to the Russian President have previously warned that Putin wants to “regain Finland”, and speaking from his official residence in Helsinki Mr Niinisto said his country would be “very decisive” in response.
In recent weeks “provocative” Russian jets have been intercepted in operations involving RAF Typhoons, Finnish Hornets, Swedish surveillance planes as well as US and Canadian jets off Alaska.
Mr Niinisto told the Guardian the combination of Putin’s anti-Nato rhetoric and his air force’s behaviour represented “a situation that is not promising”. “I have said we are almost at the gates of a new kind of cold war,” he said, which had the potential to involve the entire of Europe.
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