Finnish embassy in Russia receives letter with suspicious substance

The embassy received three letters on Thursday, one of which contained a powder, the RIA news agency reported.

 A woman walks out of a checkpoint outside the embassy of Finland in Moscow, Russia March 29, 2018 (photo credit: REUTERS/MAXIM SHEMETOV)
A woman walks out of a checkpoint outside the embassy of Finland in Moscow, Russia March 29, 2018
(photo credit: REUTERS/MAXIM SHEMETOV)

Finland's embassy in Moscow has received a letter containing an unknown powder and has reported the matter to the Russian authorities, Russian news agencies reported on Friday.

Relations between Moscow and Helsinki have deteriorated sharply since Finland formally joined NATO on April 4, becoming the 31st member of the US-led military alliance. Finland shares a long land border with Russia.

The embassy received three letters on Thursday, one of which contained a powder, the RIA news agency reported.

"In line with the security rules of the Finnish foreign ministry, the letters in question were handed to official representative organs of Russia which will study the matter," RIA quoted the embassy as saying.

The embassy said it had also informed Russia's foreign ministry of the incident.

 NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg speaks as Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto hands his nation's accession document to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken during a joining ceremony at the NATO foreign ministers' meeting at the Alliance's headquarters in Brussels, Belgium April 4, 2023. (credit: Johanna Geron/Pool/Reuters)
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg speaks as Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto hands his nation's accession document to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken during a joining ceremony at the NATO foreign ministers' meeting at the Alliance's headquarters in Brussels, Belgium April 4, 2023. (credit: Johanna Geron/Pool/Reuters)

Finland ends decades of non-alignment by joining NATO

Finland's decision to join NATO ended seven decades of strategic non-alignment which began after the country repelled an attempted Soviet invasion during World War II. In the postwar period, it opted to maintain friendly ties with Moscow.

But Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 prompted Finns to seek security under NATO's collective defense pact, which states that an attack on one member is an attack on all.