 Russia will deploy additional military forces on its borders with NATO. Russia has vowed to strengthen its military potential along its border with Finland as a direct response to Finland's ascension to the NATO ranks. Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko was quoted by Russian news site Ria Novosti as saying the expansion of NATO called for additional steps in military security. In the event that forces and assets of other NATO members are deployed in Finland, we will take additional steps to reliably ensure Russia's military security. Grushko said, We will strengthen our military potential in the Western and Northwestern direction. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said last year that Russia was taking adequate countermeasures and would form 12 units and divisions in its Western military district. The border between Finland and Russia is the longest Russia shares with the European country, some 1,340 km long. Finland will become the sixth NATO nation to share a border with Russia, joining Norway, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania and Poland. Alarmed by Russia's invasion of Ukraine a year ago, Finland abandoned its decade-long policy of non-alignment and applied to join the alliance. The Finnish contribution adds more than 257,000 troops to NATO's combined forces.