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Lies and propaganda from the keyboard of a UK propagandist based in Rome:

"In the aftermath of Russia’s annexation of Crimea and the invasion of eastern Ukraine, Finland is uniquely vulnerable to any further aggression".

As is always the case with Western propaganda, the opposite is actually true.

Finland has nothing to fear from Russia - unless respect for borders, respect for the sovereignty of Finland, and diplomatic trading is considered a threat.

What Finland should be very concerned with, and extremely wary of, is foolishly jumping into bed with the NATO predator states.

In the event of a war initiated by the NATO predators, Finland will be occupied, and subsequently destroyed by NATO, on the pretext of 'protecting Finland'.

NATO has no other objective in Finland that to launch further attacks on Russia, because war and destruction is all a predator deviate knows.

I have my doubts as to whether the Finish people are as ignorant as the UK propagandist who penned the above piece.

Lion

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95.7% of Crimeans in referendum voted to join Russia - preliminary results

Published time: 16 Mar, 2014 18:07

Edited time: 17 Mar, 2014 04:16

People celebrate as they wait for the announcement of preliminary results of today's referendum on Lenin Square in the Crimean capital of Simferopol March 16, 2014 (Reuters / Thomas Peter) / Reuters

Over 95 percent of voters in the Crimean referendum have answered ‘yes’ to the autonomous republic joining Russia and less than 4 percent of the vote participants want the region to remain part of Ukraine, according to preliminary results.

With over 75 percent of the votes already counted, preliminary result show that 95.7 percent of voters said 'yes' to the reunion of the republic with Russia as a constituent unit of the Russian Federation.

Only 3.2 percent of the ballots were cast for staying with Ukraine as an Autonomous Republic with broader rights.

The remaining 1.1 percent of the ballots were declared invalid.

The overall voter turnout in the referendum on the status of Crimea is 81,37%, according to the head of the Crimean parliament’s commission on the referendum, Mikhail Malyshev.

The preliminary results of the popular vote were announced during a meeting in the center of Sevastopol, the city that hosts Russia's Black Sea fleet.

The final results will be announced at a press conference at 7:00 GMT on Monday.

Over a half of the Tatars living in the port city took part in the referendum, with the majority of them voting in favor of joining Russia, reports Itar-Tass citing a representative of the Tatar community Lenur Usmanov.

About 40% of Crimean Tatars went to polling stations on Sunday, the republic’s prime minister Sergey Aksyonov said.

In Simferopol, the capital of the republic, at least 15,000 have gathered to celebrate the referendum in central Lenin square and people reportedly keep arriving.

Demonstrators, waving Russian and Crimean flags, were watching a live concert while waiting for the announcement of preliminary results of the voting.

People wrapped with Russian flags watch fireworks during celebrations after the preliminary results of today's referendum are announced on Lenin Square in the Crimean capital of Simferopol March 16, 2014 (Reuters / Thomas Peter)

Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the citizens of the peninsula have been given an opportunity to freely express their will and exercise their right to self-determination.

A Tweet on the expected reaction of the West:

"The international community will not recognize the results," @PressSec says on #Crimea. Crowd #Simferopol says: "Ros-si-ya! Ros-si-ya!"

— David M. Herszenhorn (@herszenhorn) March 16, 2014

International observers are planning to present their final declaration on the Crimean referendum on March 17, the head of the monitors’ commission, Polish MP Mateusz Piskorski told journalists.

He added that the voting was held in line with international norms and standards.

People in Crimea are gripped by the feeling that their dreams have come true – a desire to join Russia, which they believe can guarantee the stabilization in their social and political life, Piskorski told RT.

Next week, Crimea will officially introduce the ruble as a second official currency along with Ukrainian hryvna, Aksyonov told Interfax. In his words, the dual currency will be in place for about six months.

Overall, the republic’s integration into Russia will take up to a year, the Prime Minister said, adding that it could be done faster.

However, they want to maintain relations with “economic entities, including Ukraine,” rather than burn bridges.

Moscow is closely monitoring the vote count in Crimea, said Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Georgy Karasin.

“The results of the referendum will be considered once they are drawn up,” he told Itar-Tass.

The decision to hold a referendum was made after the bloody uprising in Kiev which ousted President Vladimir Yanukovich from power.

Crimea - which is home to an ethnic Russian majority population - refused to recognize the coup-appointed government as legitimate.

Crimeans feared that the new leadership would not represent their interests and respect rights.

Crimeans were particularly unhappy over parliament's decision to revoke the law allowing using minority languages – including Russian – as official along with the Ukrainian tongue.

Crimeans staged mass anti-Maidan protests and asked Russia to protect them.

Source:

http://tinyurl.com/gtr8prh

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: Snip

: Finland has sent letters to nearly a million military
: reservists, setting out their roles “in the event of war”
: amid rising tension with neighbouring Russia.

: The letters have been dispatched to 900,000 former conscripts
: in the armed forces, including to Finns living abroad.

: The first were sent earlier this month, with the final batch
: distributed in the last few days.

: Finland is not a member of Nato and the country shares an
: 830-mile border with Russia – the longest of any European
: nation apart from Ukraine.

: In the aftermath of Russia’s annexation of Crimea and the
: invasion of eastern Ukraine, Finland is uniquely vulnerable
: to any further aggression.

: The letter tells the reservists which regiment or unit to
: report to in the event of hostilities. “Attached you will
: find your personal details as well as your role in the
: event of war,” it reads.

: One Finnish reservist, who received the letter, said: “The
: timing was not random. It is clearly due to a more
: aggressive stance by the Russians. I’ve been in the
: reserves for 15 years and this is the first time I’ve
: received something like this. They send out letters like
: this very rarely.”

: Finland’s army has 16,000 soldiers, but it could expand to
: 285,000 if reserves were to be called up.

: The government has denied that the letters are connected to
: the crisis in Ukraine or tension with Russia, saying that
: plans for the mass delivery began two years ago.

: “The reservist letter is associated with our intention to
: develop communications with our reservists, and not the
: prevailing security situation,” said Mika Kalliomaa, a
: spokesman for the Finnish Defence Forces.

: The aim was to check that the armed forces had the right
: contact details for all reservists, he added.

: Snip

: “In the current reality, it makes sense. The Finnish Defence
: Forces want to make sure that if they need to blow the
: whistle, they can rely on 230,000 reserves.”

: Mr Salonius-Pasternak added: “That is linked to the increasing
: instability in the region. Russia has shown that it can
: transport large numbers of troops across vast distances
: very quickly. I have never had so many people coming up to
: me asking if they should be worried about the security
: situation.”

: The Soviet Union invaded Finland in 1939 and seized more than
: 10 per cent of the country’s territory. During the Cold
: War, Finland was officially neutral, but remained under the
: influence of its neighbour.

: In recent months, Russian warplanes have frequently probed
: Finnish air defences. In April, the Finnish navy resorted
: to depth-charging a suspected submarine that was detected
: near the capital, Helsinki.

: Neighbouring countries are also on a heightened state of
: alert. Last October, Sweden carried out its biggest
: military mobilisation since the Cold War to hunt for a
: mysterious submarine sighted near Stockholm.

: Although not a member of Nato, Finland has strengthened its
: ties with the Atlantic Alliance. Last month, the country
: promised more military cooperation with the armed forces of
: other Nordic countries.