"But rather than de-escalate the situation, the Kremlin has decided to stoke more fear.

Deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council Dmitry Medvedev"who has also served as the country's president and prime minister, and remains a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin"warned in a statement that Finland could collapse "forever" if it decided to oppose Russia's power.

"The Finnish establishment mustn't forget: Confrontation with Russia can lead to collapse of Finnish statehood"this time forever," said Medvedev.

"Unlike in 1944, no one will go soft on them this time."

Any attack on Finland would invoke Article 5 of the NATO Treaty, which would call all other NATO members into a unified defense strategy. The article has only ever been activated once during the 70-year history of the international alliance: 24 hours after September 11, 2001.

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"Medvedev also made reference to the Mannerheim Line, a defensive fortification that Finland built against the Soviet Union roughly a century ago. In the statement, he implied that Finland's "new" version of the defense strategy had been interpreted by Russian leadership as a retaliatory measure."