“Finland Deals a Blow to Putin” … I’m trying to figure out what changes for Russia when Finland is a NATO member vs. a “neutral” country.
> I’m trying to figure out what changes for Russia when Finland is a NATO member vs. a “neutral” country. <
I don’t have a dog in this fight. But go back to say 1960, and think of it as Cuba as a member of the Warsaw Pact vs. Cuba not a member of the Warsaw Pact.
It changes in the following ways for Russia
1. Strategical — Russia would have hesitated earlier to invade Finland, now it will baulk at doing so
2. Image - the fact of a large neutral/buffer zone played into Russia’s image. Now that that is lost, Russia has lost face
Beyond that, no real “blow”, I agree