Russian President Vladimir Putin warned his Finnish counterpart Sauli Niinistö on Saturday that the Nordic country’s renunciation of neutrality to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) would be a wrong decision.
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“Vladimir Putin stressed that ending the traditional policy of military neutrality would be a mistake, as there is no threat to Finland’s security,” the Kremlin statement said.
“This change in the country’s foreign policy could have a negative impact on Russian-Finnish relations, which over the years have been built in a spirit of good neighborliness and cooperation, and have been mutually beneficial in nature,” it says. the text.
Both leaders also addressed the issue of the current conflict in Ukraine. Putin told Niinisto his point of view on the dialogue process, which “has actually been suspended by kyiv, which has not shown any interest in a serious and constructive dialogue.”
The presidents of the Russian Federation and Finland also discussed the situation in Ukraine. The Russian leader pointed out to the Finnish leader that the negotiations between Moscow and kyiv were actually suspended due to the lack of interest of the Ukrainian side in a constructive dialogue.
At the beginning of April, discussions about Finland’s accession to NATO intensified. The main members of the alliance supported this idea. The majority of members of the Finnish Parliament were in favor of accession.
Finland’s Social Democratic Party (SDP), led by the country’s prime minister, Sanna Marin, has expressed support for the nation’s NATO membership.
“The SDP supports the leaders in opening accession negotiations,” the party announced on Saturday, arguing “a major change in the security environment in Finland and in Europe.”
Russia, for its part, will cut off electricity supply to Finland due to payment problems. This was confirmed this afternoon by the company RAO Nordic OY, a European subsidiary of the Russian energy company Inter RAO.