The Finnish government says it is ready for “various kinds of threats” from Russia a few hours later. Moscow’s threats of ‘undesirable consequences’if the country joins NATO is decided.
The Scandinavian foreign minister told CNN that they were ready for any scenario, with particular reference to Finland’s military might and the agreement with the United States on the purchase of F-35 fighter jets.
“Finland really has a very strong army. We have more than 280,000 reservists, we have candidates for recruitment, we have just invested in F-35 fighters, 60 of which are already coming to Finland and so on. Thus, we take very good care of the strengthening of our national defense. But of course we live in a world where, as we see from Russia’s attack on Ukraine, new security threats are emerging. “Through closer cooperation with NATO, we can tackle all these different threats.”said Finnish Foreign Minister Peka Haavisto in an interview with CNN on Thursday.
Russia directly threatens both Finland and Sweden with “consequences”. According to sources in Moscow, Vladimir Putin is determined not to allow a neighboring country to cooperate with NATO, which could mean taking into account the situation created by the war in Ukraine.
When asked by CNN why Finland changed its position on military neutrality, Haavisto said a Russian attack on Ukraine had changed the situation. “First of all, Russia shows that it is ready to take bigger risks in its neighborhood. Second, it is ready at any time to gather more than 100,000 troops in one field, as we saw on the border with Ukraine. And third – this is more of an open conjecture – is the possible use of nuclear and / or chemical weapons. “All this, of course, also affects Finnish security,” he said.
Finland hopes to complete discussions on a possible application for NATO membership “by mid-summer”. Haavisto told CNN that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine changed the public discourse within his country.
“We have seen a significant change in public opinion in Finland in recent weeks. The clear majority of the population now supports NATO membership. The Finnish parliament will discuss this issue in the coming weeks, and if the majority clearly states so, then the process will continue. It’s then up to the 30 NATO member states how fast the process can be. “he added.
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