“Relations between Russia and Finland have changed irreversibly,” said Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin in a speech Saturday.
Finland is not a member of the NATO defense alliance, unlike Norway. Recently, however, the desire for Finnish NATO membership has increased following Russia’s attack on Ukraine on 24 February.
The government in the Nordic country will in a few weeks take a position on the question of NATO membership, and whether a referendum should be held, several Finnish media report.
The Finnish government will present a supplementary security policy report on Thursday. It will be an important step on the way to a possible NATO application this spring, NTB reports on Thursday afternoon.
The report will not clearly express the government’s position on the matter, the newspaper writes Evening paper. Prime Minister Marin said before the weekend that her position will emerge in connection with the political consideration of the report.
NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg says it is up to Sweden and Finland themselves to decide whether they want to join the defense alliance.
– But if they apply, I expect that the 30 allies will welcome them, he said before the alliance’s foreign ministers’ meeting in Brussels this week.
Also read: Stoltenberg: – We see no sign that Putin has changed his ambitions
Russia is reacting strongly
Former FSB agent and now Russian politician Vladimir Dzhabarov is now warning Finland about the consequences they can expect from Russia – if Finland joins the NATO alliance.
“If the Finnish government goes for it, it will be a strategic mistake,” Dzhabarov, who belongs to the Russian party “United Russia”, told the state news agency. RIA Novosti.
He is also the Deputy Chairman of the International Committee of the Russian Federation Council.
Dzhabarov is the Deputy Chairman of the International Committee of the Russian Federation Council. He also stressed that an alliance with NATO would – for Finland – be a terrible tragedy.
– If the management in Finland is in favor of it, it will be a strategic mistake.
Finland, which has developed positively for many years thanks to close trade and economic ties with Russia, will be a target. “I think it would be a terrible tragedy for the whole Finnish people,” Dzhabarov said.
The politician also reminded that it is only a few hours from St. Petersburg to Finland, and he had little faith that the Finnish people would agree to sign something that in practice “will destroy their country”, he claimed.
See also: Here they are preparing for war in Norway
Record high support for membership
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has increased NATO support in Finland. A record 62 percent say they support a possible application for NATO membership.
This is an increase of 9 percentage points in just two weeks, according to the survey from the state channel Yle.
16 percent say they are against joining the US-led alliance, while 21 percent are unsure. Finland has the EU’s longest land border with Russia, and has traditionally been militarily independent in order not to provoke Moscow.
For the past 20 years, support for NATO membership has been stable at around 50 percent, before jumping up after what was perceived as a shocking invasion of Ukraine.
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