Anyone who considers the British Independent to be a reliable source should have his head examined. But the story is repeated by several other sources. Of course, an ex-chief economic adviser of Putin can't be considered a cast iron witness, but still:
After annexing Crimea and with troops massed on the border of Ukraine, Vladimir Putin will not stop trying to expand Russia until he has “conquered” Belarus, the Baltic states and Finland, one of his closest former advisers has said.Sounds bleak for Finland, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia.
According to Andrej Illarionov, the President’s chief economic adviser from 2000 to 2005, Mr Putin seeks to create “historical justice” with a return to the days of the last Tsar, Nicholas II, and the Soviet Union under Stalin.
Speaking to the Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet, Mr Illarionov warned that Russia will argue that the granting of independence to Finland in 1917 was an act of “treason against national interests”.
Sounds bleak all around, actually.
