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La Primera ministra de Finlandia, Sanna Marin, junto al Presidente Sauli Niinistö.
Finland has made the decision to apply for NATO membership, the Nordic nation’s president and prime minister announced on Sunday.
“It is a historic day. A new era is dawning,” said Finnish President Sauli Niinistö, along with Prime Minister Sanna Marin, during a press conference in Helsinki, the country’s capital.
Marin stated that he hopes the Finnish Parliament confirms the decision to join the military alliance to submit a candidacy in the coming days.
“In Finland we still have the parliamentary process ahead of us, but I am confident that Parliament will debate this historic decision with determination and responsibility,” he added.
According to the president, I should not have obstacles for your country to become a member of NATO.
“We have not had any indication in NATO that there would be any problem with Finland or Sweden becoming a member,” he said.
“We are already very intertwined and close partners with NATO.”
“We have seen some statements that there are still some questions, but I think it is very important that we have these discussions with the countries in a very calm way and discuss all the problems that may arise.”
“It does not depend on Russia”
Sauli Niinistö, the country’s president, had a conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday, during which the Russian president assured him that it would be “a mistake” for Finland to join NATO.
On Thursday, Russia warned that it would be forced to take “retaliatory measures” for Finland’s moves to join the alliance.
Following warnings from Moscow, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said that does not depend on russia decide whether Sweden and Finland join NATO.
During the press conference held this Sunday in Helsinki, Niinistö stressed the importance of remembering that NATO membership would not change the geography of the region and that Finland would continue to have a large land and sea border with Russia.
Therefore, the Finnish president said that he hopes that Russia is willing to continue “daily obligations” that are in the interest of both countries and maintain a working relationship with the Kremlin.
As an example, he cited Norway: a NATO member bordering Russia.
What is NATO?
NATO is a military alliance formed in 1949 by 12 countries, including the US, Canada, the UK and France.
Its members agree to attend mutual help in the event of an armed attack once morest any member country.
Its objective was originally to counteract the threat of the expansion of the USSR in Europe following World War II.
In 1955, the USSR responded to NATO by creating its own military alliance of communist countries in Eastern Europe, with the so-called Warsaw Pact.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, several countries of the former Warsaw Pact became members of NATO. The alliance now has 30 members.
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