A senior Russian diplomat has said Finland would be the "first to suffer" in a conflict between Russia and Nato.
Mikhail Ulyanov, who serves as Russia's Permanent Representative to International Organisations in Vienna, made the comments in an interview with the Russian news agency RIA.
"They [the Finns] had lived calmly and in peace and suddenly found themselves between Russia and Nato as a member of the military alliance, but since they are our neighbours, if, God forbid there is some escalation, they will be the first to suffer. Of course, I would certainly not want that," Ulyanov said replying to a question about Finland joining the defence alliance.
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Ulyanov is known for his zealous and sometimes confusing comments, for example on the social media site X, formerly known as Twitter.
In 2022, Ulyanov wrote "No mercy to the Ukrainian population" on the social media site, and later ended up apologising for his post, claiming it was misunderstood.
Russia summoned the Finnish ambassador earlier this month, over Finland's newly penned Defence Cooperation Agreement (DCA) with the United States.
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