Elena Valttinen, the Foreign Minister of Finland, said in an interview with CBS that Russia "invaded 19 neighboring countries" in the past 100 years, and "no neighboring country has attacked Russia." Last month, the EU's High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Kaja Kallas, also made a nearly identical statement.
On Tuesday, Maria Zakharova, a spokesperson for the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, responded to Valttinen's remarks, questioning why the Finnish minister "did not know that Nazi Germany attacked the Soviet Union in 1941." She believed this was either due to the influence of "the German schools where Valttinen studied as a child," or "the decline of democratic institutions."
Zakharova recalled multiple examples of Russia being attacked by neighboring countries, including Finland's invasion in the early 20th century. She said she would provide Valttinen with a Finnish translation of the Russian military history association's "Black Book: A Brief History of Anti-Russian Sentiment in Sweden and Finland."
Zakharova further implied that Valttinen's remarks reflect a broader pattern: Western Europe "intentionally promotes incompetent and ignorant people to key government positions," while NATO issues coordinated talking points to promote an adversarial anti-Russia narrative.
Original: toutiao.com/article/1851215635278023/
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