Russian President Vladimir Putin has vowed ‘problems’ for Finland after he says the Nordic country was ‘dragged into NATO’ amid the war in Ukraine.

‘Look, Finland was taken and dragged into NATO,’ Putin said in a new on-camera interview. ‘What did we have, some kind of dispute with Finland? All disputes, including those of a territorial nature in the middle of the 20th century, were all resolved a long time ago. We had the best, most heartfelt relations. Economically, everything was developing. Yes, in the timber industry, there were some problems linked to the necessity to develop timber processing within the country. But that was all. Just a small detail in reality.’

‘There weren’t any problems, but now there will be,’ he said, according to translated captions of the video interview. ‘Because we’ve now been forced to create a Leningrad military district and concentrate a certain number of military units there. Why do they need that? It’s just nonsense. The same goes for other countries, including NATO countries. With whom did we have problems? Nobody. They’re the ones who are artificially creating problems with us. Because they don’t want such a competitor in the form of Russia. That’s all there is to it.’ 

Meanwhile, dozens of migrants crossed into Finland on Friday, hours before the reclosure of two southern crossing points on the border with Russia as the Nordic country experiences an influx of asylum-seekers. The Vaalimaa and Niirala crossings had reopened briefly Thursday after being shut down at the end of last month, along with Finland’s six other posts on the border with Russia. 

Finland blames Moscow for sending migrants to the border in an effort to destabilize the country, which joined NATO in April. Russia denies the accusation.

At the end of November, Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo’s government opted to close the entire 830-mile border for at least two weeks over concerns that Moscow was using migrants to destabilize Finland in an alleged act of ‘hybrid warfare.’

Finnish authorities say that nearly 1,000 migrants without proper visas or valid documentation had arrived at the border since August through the end of November, with more than 900 of them in November alone. The numbers are much higher than usual.

Finland accuses Russia of deliberately ushering migrants — most of whom are seeking asylum in Finland — to the border areas, which are normally heavily controlled on the Russian side by the Federal Security Service, or FSB. The Kremlin has denied that Russia is encouraging migrants to enter Finland and has said that it regrets the Finnish border closures.

Earlier in December, Finnish authorities said that the vast majority of the migrants who arrived in November hailed from three countries: Syria, Somalia and Yemen.

Finland, a nation of 5.6 million people, makes up a significant part of NATO’s northeastern flank and acts as the European Union’s external border in the north.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Former President Donald Trump keeps gaining ground in the Republican presidential nomination contest, as fewer than one third of GOP primary voters now back all his rivals combined, according to the latest Fox News survey.

Trump’s support stands at 69% in the primary race. That’s up 7 points since November and fully 26 points since February.

Ron DeSantis receives 12% support (down 1 point since November), Nikki Haley gets 9% (-1), Vivek Ramaswamy 5% (-2), Chris Christie 2% (-1), and Asa Hutchinson 1% (steady).  

When asked their second choice, the top picks among Trump supporters are DeSantis 50%, Ramaswamy 20%, and Haley 14%.  

In hypothetical general election matchups against President Joe Biden, Haley is ahead by 6 points, while Trump is up by 4 (neither advantage is statistically significant). DeSantis and Biden tie. As recently as August, Biden was narrowly ahead of all three of them.

In the head-to-head against Haley, 83% of 2020 Biden voters stick with him, but 14% switch to her. In a matchup against Trump, just 5% of Biden’s 2020 voters defect.

‘Haley appears to have the broadest support of any Republican candidate and may be in the best position to take on Biden,’ says Republican Daron Shaw, who partners with Democrat Chris Anderson on the Fox News Poll. ‘But the simple fact is most Republicans currently prefer Trump, so the stakes in the early contests are high. She needs to beat DeSantis in Iowa and finish a strong second in New Hampshire to shake up the race.’

When third-party candidates are included, Trump’s edge over the president remains at 4 points, with Biden getting 37% to Trump’s 41%.  Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. gets 14%, Jill Stein 3%, and Cornel West 2%.  That’s mostly unchanged since last month.

Equal numbers of voters plan to participate in the Democratic and Republican primaries (4 in 10 each), and those saying they are extremely interested in the 2024 election are also balanced between the parties (6 in 10 each). 

A 54% majority of Democratic primary voters would like someone else as their party’s nominee, while 43% want to keep Biden.  

Among all voters, 41% have a favorable opinion of Biden as a person, while 58% percent view him unfavorably, putting him in negative territory by 17 points.  

Trump does better, yet he’s still underwater by 10 points (45%-55%). The ratings are worse for Christie (-29 points), Ramaswamy (-22), DeSantis (-19), and Haley (-13).  Plus, for Ramaswamy (32%) and Haley (23%) many voters are either unfamiliar with them or have no opinion. 

Trump is viewed positively by 85% of Republicans, far outdistancing DeSantis (66%), Haley (44%), Ramaswamy (37%), and Christie (27%).  For comparison, 79% of Democrats view Biden favorably.

Since September, Ramaswamy’s favorable rating is down 22 points among Republicans and 12 points among all voters (and his support in the primary has dropped by half).

Congressional Republicans voted Wednesday to open an impeachment inquiry into Biden (most survey interviews were completed before that vote). 

It’s too early to say whether that action will cause any shifts, but it seems doubtful. Voters remain divided: 49% think impeachment is a legitimate action on a serious matter vs. 48% saying it’s a bogus attempt to undermine Biden’s presidency, mostly unchanged since September.

The number of Democrats (80%) saying it’s bogus is matched by an equal share of Republicans (81%) who think it’s legitimate.

A majority of Republicans (67%) think Biden did something illegal related to his son Hunter’s business dealings, while over half of Democrats think the president didn’t do anything wrong (59%). Independents narrowly see the impeachment as legitimate and one third believe the president broke the law.

Overall, 38% of voters think the president did something illegal related to Hunter’s business, 27% say unethical, and 32% say nothing wrong. Those numbers have barely moved all year.

Two-thirds feel Hunter Biden is being treated fairly by the legal system (66%), including majorities of Democrats, Republicans, and independents.  

The president’s approval rating stands at 43%, up from a low of 40% last month. Biden is helped by higher-than-average approval among men and voters ages 65 and over. That appears to be driven by his handling of national security, where approval is up by 7 points among both groups.

Still, 57% disapprove of Biden’s overall job performance.  

Poll-pourri

Nearly one in five voters view both Biden and Trump negatively, and they prefer Biden in the head-to-head matchup by 8 points.  

Among 2020 Trump voters, most still support him in the GOP primary race (74%), but 12% now back DeSantis, 8% Haley, 4% Ramaswamy, and 1% Christie.

As Trump resurrects his pledge to repeal ObamaCare, a record 57% of voters have a positive view of the health care law, including over half of independents and a quarter of Republicans.

Most voters (73%), believe the U.S. president should ‘always’ follow the law. That’s more than three times as many as say the U.S. is so far off track that it needs a president who will ‘break some laws’ to set things right (22%). Twice as many 2024 Trump supporters (32%) as Biden supporters (14%) think the country needs a president who will break some laws.

At the same time, roughly equal numbers overall feel Trump (44%) and Biden (40%) pose a ‘major’ threat to Americans’ individual rights and freedoms.  

More Democrats see Biden as a major (11%) or minor (17%) threat, than Republicans who feel that way about Trump (6% major and 14% minor threat).

Eight in 10 Democrats think Trump is a ‘major’ threat, while 7 in 10 Republicans say the same of Biden. Among independents, about the same number see Biden (36%) and Trump (40%) as a ‘major’ threat to individual rights and freedoms.

‘It’s no surprise many are dreading a 2020 rematch,’ says Anderson.  ‘Not only do partisans strongly dislike the likely nominees of the other party, but they also think they are a major threat to their individual rights and freedoms.’

CLICK HERE FOR TOPLINE AND CROSSTABS

Conducted December 10-13, 2023, under the joint direction of Beacon Research (D) and Shaw & Company Research (R), this Fox News Poll includes interviews with 1,007 registered voters nationwide who were randomly selected from a voter file and spoke with live interviewers on both landlines and cellphones. The poll has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points for all registered voters, and plus or minus 4.5 points for Democratic primary voters and 5 points for Republican primary voters.

Fox News’ Victoria Balara contributed to this report.

As President Joe Biden and Congressional Republicans debate the spending package meant to provide aid to Israel and Ukraine, a new Fox News survey finds voters divided over what role the U.S. should play related to the wars in the two countries.

For Israel, 30% think the U.S. supports it too much, while 27% say it is not enough.  The largest number, 38%, say U.S. support is about right.

There is a 6-point increase since November in those saying the U.S. is not supportive enough and that’s driven entirely by Republicans (+11 points).

Overall, a majority of 61% supports the Israelis, yet that’s down from 66% in November and 68% in October, at the outset of the war.  

That decline in support can be mostly attributed to Democrats (-8 points), nonwhite voters (-8), and women (-6). Just under half of Democrats (48%) support the Israelis, while a third (33%) support the Palestinians.  Just over three-quarters (76%) of Republicans support Israelis.

Still, the decrease does not translate into support for the Palestinians, as the 23% who side more with them has held steady compared to a month ago. Instead, more are unsure (6%) or don’t back either side (10%). 

When it comes to Ukraine, 31% think the U.S. should be doing more to help in their war with Russia and 30% say the U.S. should be doing less.  Thirty-five percent believe the current level of support is right.

Since November, there has been a 10-point surge in those thinking the U.S. should be doing more to help President Zelenskyy’s country. Both Democrats (+13) and Republicans (+7) are more likely to think there should be additional help for Ukraine. 

Zelenskyy made a last-minute push Tuesday to convince Washington lawmakers to aid his embattled country. President Biden’s spending package that would send help to both Ukraine and Israel is stalled in Congress as Republicans seek to tie the funding to stronger border security policies. 

‘If this gambit by Republicans doesn’t work, Congress will be moving Ukraine funding into the same category as border security – something Americans want, but that Congress won’t deliver,’ says Democratic pollster Chris Anderson who conducts the Fox News Poll with Republican Daron Shaw.

Biden’s job rating on both conflicts is underwater.  Thirty-seven percent approve his handling of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, while 59% disapprove, for a net negative rating of 22.  Biden is negative 27 points on the Israel-Hamas war (33% approve, 60% disapprove). And while he’s still underwater on national security by 11 points (43% approve, 54% disapprove), that makes it one of Biden’s better issues.

On Congress, 1 in 5 approve of the job it’s doing (19%) while three-quarters disapprove (77%), similar to findings from September. 

Despite the foreign conflicts in the headlines daily, just 3% of voters say foreign policy is the most important issue facing the country – landing it last in a list of 9 issues. The top concerns are the economy (35%) and immigration/border security (19%).

On Biden’s handling of relations with Iran, half feel it makes the U.S. less safe (50%). Another 1 in 10 say it makes the U.S. safer (12%), while a third says it doesn’t make a difference (34%).  

Republicans drive the unsafe number with 79% feeling that way.

‘It is unlikely that many Americans understand the particulars of Iran’s role in supporting Hamas and Hezbollah,’ says Shaw. ‘But there seems to be a sense among voters that U.S. efforts to bolster so-called moderates in Iran over the past decade have not worked.’

Nearly four years ago, 27% felt President Trump’s handling of relations with Iran made the U.S. safer while 48% said less safe.  Nineteen percent said it didn’t make a difference.

CLICK HERE FOR TOPLINE AND CROSSTABS

Conducted Dec. 10-13, 2023, under the joint direction of Beacon Research (D) and Shaw & Company Research (R), this Fox News Poll included interviews with 1,007 registered voters nationwide who were randomly selected from a voter file and spoke with live interviewers on both landlines and cellphones. The total sample has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points.

JERUSALEM – Yahya Sinwar, Hamas’ top leader in Gaza, his younger brother, Muhammed, and two other senior military commanders of the Iranian-backed Islamist terror group – Rafa’a Salameh and Mohammad Deif – are considered to be the worst killers from the southern Gazan city of Khan Younis. 

All are now the most wanted terrorists by Israel.

As the IDF gears up for what could be its fiercest battle yet against Hamas, the army dropped leaflets over Gaza’s second most populous city on Thursday, calling on residents of the Hamas stronghold to share any information about the whereabouts of the four men and offering a substantial financial reward – some $1 million in total – for anyone brave enough to come forward.

All four terrorists were born and raised in Khan Younis, a city about two miles east of the Mediterranean Sea, and Sinwar, who already has the nickname ‘the Butcher of Khan Younis,’ for his violent and cruel torture methods against his enemies, both Israeli and Palestinian, is widely seen as the mastermind of the massacre of Israeli civilians carried out by thousands of Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7, sparking the current war. 

Israeli political and military leaders have referred to Sinwar as a ‘dead man walking.’

So, who are the four men Israel is willing to dole out a million dollars for?

Wanted: Yahya Sinwar

Position: Hamas leader in Gaza 

Bounty: $400,000

Recently described as ‘a dead man walking,’ Yahya Sinwar, who turned 61 at the end of October, was born in the Khan Younis refugee camp when the region was part of Egypt. According to multiple sources, he has always been a militant activist and joined Hamas not long after its founding in 1987. Two years later, he was arrested by Israel for his involvement in the abduction and killing of two Israelis, as well as the torturing and murder of four Palestinians he considered to be collaborators. He was sentenced to life in prison and ended up serving 22 years in an Israeli jail until his release in 2011 as part of a prisoner exchange for the abducted Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.

During his time in jail, Sinwar became a prominent and influential figure among the other Hamas prisoners and learned to speak fluent Hebrew. He has a deep understanding of Israeli society, those who have met and studied him say, pointing out that he is both charismatic and extreme, with strong ideological and religious beliefs. He is not afraid to die or sacrifice himself for the Palestinian cause and truly believes that he can lead the Palestinian people to destroy Israel. 

Wanted: Mohammad Sinwar

Position: Commander of Hamas’ Southern Brigade

Bounty: $300,000 

Mohammad Sinwar, Yahya’s younger brother by a few years, joined Hamas’ military wing in the early 1990s and also spent a few years imprisoned for terrorist activities. Upon his release, the younger Sinwar upped his militaristic activities with Hamas, taking part in several deadly terror attacks against Israel in the mid-1990s before becoming commander of the terror group’s Khan Younis Brigade in 2005. 

In 2006, according to reports, Mohammed Sinwar was involved in a deadly attack against Israeli soldiers on Israel’s border that resulted in the kidnapping of IDF soldier Gilad Shalit. He was then part of the secretive Hamas cell that held Shalit captive in Gaza for more than five years. 

While the younger Sinwar is considered to be of lower rank than his leader brother, the two are very close, according to experts. ‘He is involved in decision-making and was very involved in planning the Oct. 7 attack with him,’ Michael Milshtein, head of the Palestinian Studies Forum at the Dayan Center at Tel Aviv University, told Fox News Digital. 

Wanted: Rafa’a Salameh

Position: Commander of Khan Younis Battalion 

Bounty: $200,000 

Currently, the commander of the Hamas battalion where most of Israel’s fighting is now focused, Milshtein said Rafa’a Salameh was not generally considered a prominent figure and was most likely to have been included on the list because, like the others, he was born and raised in Khan Younis. Milshtein also said putting him in Israeli military crosshairs serves to weaken the enemy. 

‘When all the efforts are focused on Khan Younis and you want to make the enemy weaker, then you put him on the list, that is why he is one of the four,’ he said. 

Wanted: Mohammad Deif
Position: Commander of Hamas military wing 

Bounty: $100,000 

Notably, Mohammad Deif, long considered to be enemy number one for Israel and considered as senior in Hamas as Yahya Sinwar, has a lower bounty than the other three. 

As the top commander of Hamas’ military wing, the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades, Deif, 58, is also thought to have been involved in planning the brutal Oct. 7 attacks. A master bombmaker, Deif played an instrumental role in developing Hamas’ military capabilities, Israeli military and intelligence officials have said, including building up its rocket arsenal and attack strategy, as well as helping to design the subterranean tunnel system, which snakes for miles below the coastal enclave and which Israel is now trying to eradicate. 

A former actor, Deif, is a master of disguise and has long eluded the Israelis, even surviving several assassination attempts. It is believed that Deif, who is sometimes referred to as ‘the cat with nine lives,’ has been confined to a wheelchair since an Israeli attack in 2006 during which he also lost an eye and an arm. However, Israel’s arch-enemy keeps a very low profile, rarely making public appearances – the last known photo of him is at least three decades ago.

Milshtein, who has studied Hamas’ most elusive warrior for years, told Fox that he is ‘far more important than Salameh, of course, but someone in Israel tried to make him angry or make a joke out of him by making him worth less.’ 

In the deck of playing cards, Deif, shown as a one-armed mannequin, is king. 

‘It’s unlikely anyone will call the number on that flyer,’ Milshtein told Fox News Digital. 

‘There is a beehive surrounding Sinwar and he is very confident about his position in Gaza and inside Hamas,’ said Milshtein, who previously headed the department for Palestinian affairs in the IDF’s military intelligence unit. ‘I would be very surprised if anyone would betray him or give Israel any important information about his location.’ 

Israeli forces have been engaged in operations in Khan Younis since early December, when a week-long cease-fire with Hamas ended. On Dec. 6, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that Israeli forces had reached and encircled Sinwar’s home, although Israel’s most wanted terrorist was obviously not home.

‘His home is not his castle, and he can flee, but it is only a matter of time until we find him,’ Netanyahu said in a brief statement. 

As well as Sinwar, Israel has said it will seek out and assassinate other members of Hamas’ political and military leadership wherever they are in the world. Last week, IDF soldiers fighting in Gaza were given packs of playing cards, similar to those created for U.S. troops during the Iraq war, depicting the most wanted Hamas terrorists. 

Yahya Sinwar, shown as a rat hiding in a tunnel, is the ace card. 

Despite making clear that these brutal killers are in Israel’s sights, after more than 70 days of fighting – and an estimated 7,000 dead terrorists and thousands more captured – only a handful of Hamas’ top tier have been taken out.

Among the top figures killed in fighting so far is Rawhi Mushtaha, a political and strategic leader, considered to be Sinwar’s ‘twin’ and the man said to be most knowledgeable about the Palestinian prisoners Hamas is hoping to exchange for more than 120 Israeli hostages, including women and children, that it brutally kidnapped on Oct. 7 and still holds. 

In addition, the IDF and Israel’s internal security agency, Shin Bet, on Dec. 5 said several senior Hamas operatives from the military brigades of northern Gaza had been eliminated, including Ahmed Al-Ghandoor. According to the information shared, Al-Ghandoor was part of the military wing’s inner circle and had been responsible for directing and managing all the group’s terror operations in Northern Gaza.

Another senior member of the Islamist organization’s general military council to be eliminated was Ayman Noufal, who was head of Hamas’ central command. Noufal was killed by an Israeli airstrike early on in the war, Hamas confirmed in a statement. 

Jonathan Schanzer, the senior vice president for research at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies in Washington, told Fox News Digital that the ‘most wanted’ leaflets dropped by the IDF over Khan Younis were symbolic of what will likely be one of the ‘toughest battles for Israel in this war.’ 

‘Hamas used the cease-fire to prepare for this battle,’ he said, adding that Sinwar and the others identified as top tier by Israel hail from the place that ‘could soon be described as Hamas’ last stand.’

‘Israel has other top targets in its sights but the killing or capture of these men might signal a psychological win for the Israelis and even a defeat for the Iran-backed group in Gaza,’ Schanzer said.’I don’t believe Gazans will turn them over, but these men have to be feeling the heat even more right now, with their names plastered all over war-torn Gaza.’